"If mom found out what I was doing, I'd so be grounded," Jenny whispered as she met with Sarah on the driveway. She moved very quietly, trying not to draw attention to herself. Sarah looked to her mother and raised her eyebrows.

"You're worried about getting grounded? I'm not even worried about getting grounded and I'm the only one who can be grounded!"

"You're not worried because your mother is sneaking out with you," Jenny said. "I can't be a hypocrite. But if my mom finds out."

"So don't tell her about it," Sarah said. "I've already called the others. They'll meet us at school."

"School?"

"It's in the middle," Sarah said. "And easier to get to than the Romero's in the middle of the night."

"This is your plan," Jenny shrugged. "I just don't want to get caught."

"You're forty."

"And still terrified of my mother. Take notes."

Sarah rolled her eyes, but didn't question her mother further. Together, they made their way to the school, sneaking into shop class so they wouldn't trigger any of the alarms. There, the others were already waiting for them. Preston held up his phone, showing they had all already read Sarah's text.

"Your father is alive?"

Sarah nodded. Part of her was over the moon. The impossible had happened and the father she loved and missed dearly had been returned to her. Part of her felt crazy for questioning it and sneaking around his back and trying to be sure this wasn't a trap. Her father was home, what could possibly be more important?

But the logical side, the side with experience on returning family members pushed her to examine every angle of this sudden miracle. Aiden had returned to Brody once, only for the Rangers to realize it was a dangerous plan from Madam Oedius. Sarah had fought Brody tooth and nail, and nearly split the team, convinced they shouldn't take Aiden at his word until he proved he was who he claimed to be.

"He just showed up," she told the Rangers. "Out of the blue."

"Where is he now?"

"He's at home sleeping," Jenny said. "We snuck out."

"So what are the odds this is Oedius again?" Hayley asked. "Would she really try the same trick twice?"

"Would we expect her not to?" Levi said. "She's all about deception. Doing the same trick twice could work if we think she thinks we won't fall for it."

"Huh?" Kelly frowned and turned to the singer.

"She might be double-deceiving us."

"This is going to make for one complicated story," Kelly sighed.

"Does he seem level?" Brody asked Sarah and Jenny. "Like, does he seem like himself or is he different?"

"So far it all seems… normal," Jenny answered. "He knew who we were, he knew there was some missing time."

"He wasn't too clear on what happened to him during that time," Sarah added.

"That could be good or bad," Calvin said. "It could be that he's got something to hide and trying to remain vague, so he's not caught in a lie."

"Or it could mean he's not hiding anything and doesn't need to justify the stuff he can't understand himself," Kelly finished.

"That's helpful, guys. Thanks," Sarah muttered. She looked to her friends, "I just… I don't want to fall for this if it's a trap. I don't want to have him back, only to be taken away again."

"We'll make sure that doesn't happen," Brody promised. While he didn't have to go long between discovering Aiden was a fake and learning that Levi was his brother, the moments he did think he had lost Aiden all over again were painful. In fact, all that pain was probably worse than losing him the first time, since he still had hope as a boy that he would one day see his brother again. The second loss also came with a loss of hope.

"How?" Jenny asked. "How can we be sure that Bill is who he says he is when Aiden was so convincing, despite being a fake?"

"We never ran DNA tests on Aiden," Hayley suggested. "What if we did that with your dad?"

"We can make up a lie about the Ranger stuff," Preston offered. "If we catch him deceiving us, we'll know he's not real."

"That's a good one," Calvin smiled. "We can, like, pretend to give away our new base and if Oedius attacks the fake one or something, we'll know this is a trick."

"You want me to trick my dad?"

"If he is your dad, what does it matter if he thinks our base is here or there?" Preston asked.

"Well, if he knows we're Rangers, and he is who he says he is, if he runs into trouble and goes to the wrong base, that could be bad," Sarah pointed out. "Or, he finds out we lied to him right after he comes home from something traumatic and…"

"He'd understand," Jenny said confidently and put a reassuring hand on her daughter's shoulder. "If he is your father, once he knows why, he'll understand why we needed to test him."

"I can talk to dad in the morning about setting up a fake base," Brody suggested. "As long as it's okay with you?"

All eyes turned to Sarah. She hated that this was her call. She wanted to believe her father, and she certainly didn't want to trick him. However, the safety of the team and her family was far more important. She nodded her head.

"Alright. Set it up."

"We should get back," Jenny said. "Bill's not a light sleeper, but he does tend to get up in the middle of the night to pee. If I'm not in bed, he'll get suspicious."

"I'll talk to dad in the morning," Brody promised. "We'll get this sorted and fast."

"I'll stop by for breakfast in the morning," Kelly suggested. "I can meet your dad and maybe while he and I are talking, you two can look for… like… behavioural traits you recognize. Things that would be really, really hard to mimic."

"Thanks," Sarah smiled, then made her way out of shop class with Jenny. Once they were out of the school, Jenny stopped her daughter.

"I want him to be your father too," she said. "But until we know for sure, maybe it's best we… don't get attached. Losing him once was hard enough."

"And if he asks? He'll notice if we're distant."

"We can blame your injury?" Jenny suggested. "Maybe claim that things have been different since it happened."

"You want to use my injury as an excuse to distance yourself from your husband?"

"Can I?"

Sarah sighed and nodded her head, "Yeah, sure. It's probably the best excuse we've got."

"I just… I don't want to depend on him again," Jenny said. "I think I've finally got my head wrapped around this single parent thing and… if I have to go back to that, I don't want to feel like I'm starting over. For both our sakes."

"I get it," Sarah nodded. "But, uh… if dad is back… what are you going to do about Dane?"

"You mean my friend, Dane?"

"I mean the guy you claim is a friend but did start hanging out with more and more after accepting the idea of maybe starting to date again, Dane," Sarah smirked.

"Your father is my husband – the man I love. As long as that's still true, there's no one else for me."

"So you'd go with the classic break-up line, but with a twist?" Sarah asked with a little laugh, "The, 'it's not you, it's that my husband returned from the dead', line."

"Something like that, yeah," Jenny chuckled, then pointed to the car, "Let's get back, before your father gets suspicious."