Time felt as if it had stopped for Lucas. His chest felt tight, he couldn't breathe. He stared hard at Gavin and Ellie, trying to make sense of what had just been said. He shook his head and stood up.

"No! No way! I have a mom, her name is Cynthia!" he shouted.

Ellie, looking as confused as he did, looked to Gavin. Bridger and Westphalen sat in stunned silence.

"No, Lucas. Ellie is your mother. Cynthia is the only mother you've known because that's the way your 'father' wanted it," he explained. Looking to Westphalen he said, "Do a DNA test, it will prove that what I'm saying is true."

"Ellie," Lucas said, "What is your last name?"

"Well, it used to be James, but my married name is Wolenczak," she said simply.

Lucas backed away, putting his hands to his head. "No…this is not happening."

"I'm sorry Lucas," Gavin said. "I wish it didn't have to be this way, but there is no other way to do this. Ellie is your mother, and I am your father."

Lucas stared icily at Gavin. "No you aren't. I know who my father is! And she is not my mother!"

"Kristen, why don't you go back to the MedBay and get two of the instant DNA tests. We'll settle this now." Bridger said, finding his voice again.

Kristen nodded and practically ran from the room. Lucas paced, he didn't want to hear this. Ellie stepped toward him, putting a hand on his arm. Lucas stopped, looking at her carefully, looking for any resemblance. She reached out and put a hand to his cheek and smiled at him.

"Lucas, it will be okay. No matter what happens," she said, her hand remaining on his face.

Lucas couldn't find it within himself to even nod, so shocked was he by her small physical gesture. He'd never been a physical person, and no one had ever really touched him this way, he normally wouldn't have let them. But he couldn't, and wouldn't stop her. It was too comforting, too soothing.

"Hey Lucas," Gavin said.

Lucas looked up at him. "What?"

"What she did, that time on Highway 1, to scare me to death, was to pull over at one of the really high bridges that span the ocean, pull bungee equipment out of the trunk of the car, hook herself up, and jump." Gavin said with a smirk.

Ellie, still standing in front of Lucas, started laughing. "It's true, I did. He's scared of heights you know."

Lucas just stared at her. "No way! You did that?"

She nodded, still smiling. "Yep."

"Okay, that's cool. Mean, but cool."

"You're telling me," Gavin muttered.

Kristen rushed back into the room with the tests, breaking the lightheartedness. Ellie backed away from Lucas and looked to Gavin.

Kristen looked to Ellie. "Come here please," she said.

Ellie walked back to the table. "It's going to take at least 48 hours to get that back," she said as Kristen prepped her.

"Not anymore," Kristen replied. "We can have them done instantly now."

Ellie's eyes widened in shock. "Wow, talk about scientific advancement," she said.

"That's not even the half of it," Lucas said.

Ellie shot him a questioning glance as Kristen swabbed the inside of her mouth. Kristen, putting the sample onto the special paper coated with the solution which would activate the test, motioned to Lucas to come over to her.

Lucas walked over to where the tests were set up and submitted to the swab. He watched as the test results came up, even though he couldn't decipher them. But the look on Kristen's face said it all: the tests were a match.

Ellie looked stunned, and she looked at Lucas in amazement, then to Gavin. Gavin smiled at them both.

"You see? I told you I was telling the truth. If you don't believe that I'm his father, pull up Lawrence Wolenczak's biological profile. You have access to it, and it contains his DNA reading. Compare them and you'll see that they don't match Lucas'"

"This is unreal," Lucas said. "This means that my whole life is a lie."

"I'm sorry to have to break it to you this way Lucas," Gavin replied. "I brought her here so that you could get to know her, and she could get to know you. I want you to know where you really came from. You're here because you are too much like her. Lawrence tried to break you, force any piece of Ellie out of you, but he couldn't. That's why he sent you here, because he'd failed and hated to be reminded daily that you were Ellie's son."

Westphalen and Bridger said nothing. This was not their conversation. Lucas tried to take the information in. This is why he'd been sent away? Why he had never been good enough? It made sense. He was not Lawrence's son; he was the son of the two people standing here before him. If Lawrence knew about it, as Gavin said he did, then he would have tried to mold Lucas to be like him. And oh, how he had tried and failed miserably. When he couldn't, when it was clear who he really took after, he'd been sent into a sort of exile so he wouldn't be a constant reminder.

"Gavin, uh…I mean…Dad… god this is weird," Lucas started.

Gavin chuckled, "Yeah I know, it's ok."

Lucas continued, "If Ellie is my mother, where is she now? Why didn't she keep me?"

Gavin sighed, telling everyone that this was not a piece of information he wanted to share. "She's dead Lucas. She died shortly after giving birth to you."

"WHAT?" Ellie screamed.

"Ells, I'm sorry, I…"

"No…no no no Gavin."

"It's why I brought you here Ells. So he could know you, and so you could go back knowing that he would be alright."

"But Gavin…I'm only 23…I'm not ready to die."

"You're not going to have a choice my love. I'm sorry," he said, taking her in his arms. "Just know it, and make the best of your time Ells."

Ellie, surprisingly calm, nodded. She wasn't going to go ballistic in front of Lucas, he'd been through enough already.

"I think I'm gonna be sick," Lucas said, sitting down.

Ellie, motherly instinct taking over, grabbed the trash can and brought it to Lucas, kneeling next to him and stroking his hair. Bridger was dumbfounded as he watched Lucas tolerate being petted, something he normally would never have handled well.

"Dr. Westphalen," Gavin said. "It's almost time for me to go for now. The only way that Lucas will get what he needs from Ellie is if you take them to Chatton. They have a new invention there, which will allow Lucas, once Ellie is hooked up to it, to be guided through her memories as if he was watching a movie. It's the fastest way. I can be there to guide her in the right direction."

Kristen nodded. "I'll contact them at once."

"Thank you," Gavin replied. "Ells, I have to go, I'll see you again soon."

Ellie stood and embraced Gavin. "I'll see you soon," she whispered.

"In more ways than one," he replied, and then was gone.