Thanks, Dad

Chapter 1

Phoebe dipped a hand into the Oracle while surrounded by her Valentine, Inc. colleagues. The Oracle started bubbling.

"Our client is Noah Mayer," Phoebe explained. "He's an aspiring filmmaker in Hollywood. He was previously living in Oakdale, Illinois. There, he had a boyfriend named Luke Spencer, born Luciano Grimaldi. Luke was Noah's first boyfriend and their relationship endured so much: Noah's father's disapproval, a fake marriage, the pressures of a student election, potential temptations, Noah's temporary blindness. There were some things that their relationship couldn't endure. Most recently, Luke fell in love with a doctor who treated Noah, and then died. Luke was grieving and Noah moved here to begin his career. There was hope of a rekindled romance, but that hasn't happened yet. We must get Noah and Luke back together," Phoebe concluded. "If we don't, Luke will suffer through series of failed relationships and Noah will never find anyone who will make him as happy as Luke made him. There's someone else. His name is Dusty Donovan. He's going to be very important, and we need to get Noah to Oakdale as soon as possible because of him."

Three days later, Grace met with Noah.

"I have to say, this is a very generous offer," Noah said.

"Well, I know you prefer to focus on movies, so I added an incentive. The additional compensation to your company should give you plenty of latitude."

"Yes, but this much for commercials?"

"I'm sure you're worth every cent. When can you start?"

"I just need a few days to wrap some things up with my current project."

"Excellent," Grace answered. "I'd like to shoot the commercials in Illinois. Do you think you can make your way over there by Monday night?"

"Sure, but we need to discuss how everything will look so I can make sure we're set there."

"Nonsense, we can worry about that when we get there. Sometimes you don't know what the Muses want from you until you're in the moment."

"Oh, all right. Where in Illinois?"

"A city named Oakdale. Have you heard of it?"

"Y-Yes. Yes, I have," Noah stammered out.

Noah was already starving when he arrived at the hotel. As soon as he finished unpacking, he rushed to the coffee bar where he used to work.

"Noah!"

Noah turned as he was walking out and saw Luke, who, after a moment's hesitation, gave him an awkward hug.

"Hey, I meant to call you before. It's been a crazy week," Noah said.

"So here you are."

"Yeah, someone hired me to shoot a series of commercials here in Oakdale. She said the atmosphere reminded her of where she grew up."

"Wait, you're not here because of Dusty Donovan?"

"No. What's going on with Dusty?"

"Kidney infection. It's a bit similar to mine, but he went downhill really fast."

"Is he getting a transplant?"

"He's on the waitlist. He's been at the hospital for about a week now, if you want to visit him."

Noah's phone rang.

"It's Grace. Hey, I did mean to give you a heads up, and I do want to catch up with you . . ."

"I understand. Now, go take care of this Grace person."

Luke entered the coffee bar and Noah answered his phone.

"Hi, Grace."

"Noah! I just wanted to check in with you. Are you in Illinois yet?"

"Yes, I'm pretty much settled in Oakdale now, actually."

"Fabulous. Kate Providence will be there tonight. She'll be our spokeswoman."

"Is she a romance novelist?"

"Yes; you've heard of her."

"Just a little bit."

"She'll be happy to hear that. Now, my assistant told me there is a nice café called Moyer's."

"Yeah, I know that café."

"How about you and Kate meet there tomorrow at 8:30?"

"Sure, I'll see her then."

"Great. And I will be in Oakdale tomorrow night."

Later, Noah visited Dusty in the hospital. An upbeat young woman greeted him.

"Hi! I'm Phoebe. This is my first day!"

"Hi . . . Noah."

"Pleasure to meet you!"

Phoebe shook Noah's hand and promptly left.

"Noah," Dusty finally said. "Who squealed about my condition? I didn't want to be a distraction and make you come here."

"No one squealed. I came back to Oakdale to do some shooting. It's the first project I'm heading and Luke mentioned your kidneys. Have you been looking for a donor?"

"No one's a match yet."

"Well, we're the same blood type. Let's try me out. Maybe we'll get lucky."

"The chances are going to be slim, so let's skip that. Like I said, I didn't want to distract you and you said you came here to work."

"It's a simple procedure."

"No," Dusty said.

"It's the least I can do. You're the only friend I've ever had here outside of Luke's social circle. That means something to me."

Dusty finally relented and Noah gave a doctor a DNA sample, with Phoebe in attendance.

Noah met Kate the next day.

"So, out of curiosity, did Grace get you involved in advertising or was this something you became interested in?" Noah asked.

"Oh, Grace definitely brought me into this," Kate answered. "She figured someone with my background would be a good face for her new perfume, and she's very convincing."

Noah chuckled. "Yes, she is. Have you been working with Grace for a while, now?"

"Not very long, but I've gotten to know her well."

"Oh, that's good. She left much of the art and set direction to me, but I don't know what she likes. Has she discussed the backdrop of the commercials?"

"Well, I think she's very flexible," Kate said hesitantly, realizing she was under-prepared.

"She told me that you would play a woman admiring different men and then once you found someone you really liked, you whipped out the perfume."

"Yes."

"If you're the only actor, I guess these will have to be pictures, or something, maybe on the internet. You could be preparing for something from an online dating service."

"Sure, that'll work."

"You don't seem to sure."

"I am," Kate quickly said, trying to laugh.

"So you don't know what Grace likes? How about in general?"

"Well, she does seem fond of her ancestry."

"Where's she from?"

"Greece."

Noah sat silently for a few seconds.

"I got it. You could be looking at statues."

"I think that's a great idea," Kate responded.

Noah and Kate continued to discuss the commercials until Noah took a break for the bathroom and coffee.

"Phoebe," Kate said to her phone.

"Just calling in. We're almost set here."

"That might have to wait. Noah and I started talking about the commercials and we've settled on some things, but Noah needs to make some calls and do some traveling to pick up some statues."

"No, he has to come to the hospital very soon! Aren't there statues at a Walmart nearby?"

"He said with the budget Grace set, the statues should be really good."

Noah came back to the table at that moment.

"A friend just happened to call me. We were talking about this project and she mentioned she can borrow some antique Greek statues," Kate told Noah while Phoebe stayed on the line.

"Oh, that's great. Anything we can see beforehand?"

"Tell him we'll ship a statue to him," Phoebe said. "I'll get Leo to take care of it." She then hung up.

"A statue?" Danny asked Leo.

"It needs to be Greek and authentic," Leo replied.

"It's going to be a pain to move any of the statues here."

"I can take care of that."

"What about putting it back?"

Leo frowned.

"Dad," Danny simply said.

Noah entered Dusty's hospital room.

"Noah," a doctor there said. "I'll leave you two alone."

"Thanks, doctor," Dusty quickly said.

Noah started to look concerned. "What is it?"

"We're a match."

"That's great. I know you don't want to pull me away from work, but this is your health we're talking about." Noah noticed Dusty was slightly nervous. "What is it?"

"One of the technicians messed up. She accidentally put in an order for a paternity test."

"What is it?"

"You're my son. I told the doctor it was a mistake, so he ran the tests again. You're still my son."

Noah and Dusty remained silent for nearly a minute, looking at each other.

"You knew my mother for a while . . ."

"Yes."

"And you two . . ."

"Yes."

Noah started laughing.

Author's note: Thank you for reading. I can't take credit for the paternity idea. I first read it at Television Without Pity's forums. I've been taking a lot of ideas from there lately.