Austin, Texas
Greg Roberts stood near the hospital nursery. His wife had just had the baby they'd been excitedly waiting for, unfortunately Alyssa was fighting for her life after falling asleep at the wheel after a thirty-six hour shift at the hospital. He'd told her time and time again that she shouldn't work so much while pregnant. He tried to tell her it couldn't be good for the baby but Alyssa had assured him that as quote the best OB/GYN in the country unquote she knew what she was doing. Greg stood there, blinking back the moisture in his eyes, looking at their son. Well, her son, Alyssa had told him that before they met she'd been about to be artificially inseminated with a donation from a friend. When they'd found out that he was unable to have children she'd revealed that she hadn't gotten rid of the sample from before they met. He'd been mad at first especially when Alyssa expressed the desire to use the sample. Then Alyssa assured him that there was no chance that this doctor friend of hers, she wouldn't give his name, had any desire to be a part of any child's life. She told him she'd be more comfortable if they used the sperm from a donor she knew and trusted than a strangers and he'd conceded.
A doctor calling his name pulled him out of the memory. He'd met the doctor approaching him before, but for the life of him couldn't remember his name.
"Greg Roberts? I'm Dr. Ian Daniels." Greg remembered him now, Alyssa had told him that she'd worked with temporarily in Dallas.
"Mr. Roberts, I'm sorry to say that Alyssa's injuries were too severe. We've done everything we can but she didn't make it." Greg went numb.
"Did she say anything?" He asked.
"Yes, she, uh, she asked for Reid. Does that mean anything to you?" Dr. Daniels asked. A nurse approached them before he could respond.
"Come meet your son, Mr. Roberts." He and Dr. Daniels followed the nurse into the nursery.
Ten minutes later, Greg was cradling the newborn in his arms. Their son, he and Alyssa had been excited when they'd been told the baby was a boy. After weeks of arguments, they'd agreed on the name Jackson Oliver Roberts. Greg looked down at the tiny human in his arms. Jo looked nothing like either him or Alyssa. The baby had bright auburn hair where he had brown hair and Alyssa's had been blonde, natural blonde not out of a bottle. The baby also had brown eyes, where both he and Alyssa had green eyes. Dr. Daniels gasped softly when he saw the baby.
"He looks just like…. No that's not possible. " He muttered under his breath shaking his head.
"He looks just like whom? Dr. Daniels." Greg asked.
"He looks just like a doctor I worked with at Dallas Mercy."
"My wife worked there before we married and moved here. I can't have children, so we used a sperm donor, a friend of hers from that hospital. "
"Well she was very close to the head of Neurology, a Dr. Reid Oliver. Rumor had it they were sleeping together until it came out that he batted for the other team if you know what I mean." Greg saw red at that moment, Alyssa's last words had been asking for this man who she had insisted father their child.
"Do you know if he's still working at Dallas Mercy?"
"I wouldn't know."
Just then the nurse came to say he could take Jackson home. He thanked Dr. Daniels, and went to sign all the paperwork. An hour later, He had gotten Jo settled into the nursery before sitting down at his computer. Typing 'Reid Oliver' into Google, article after article came up. He spent some time reading through a couple of them – all about Dr. Oliver's various accomplishments as a surgeon. Finally he happened across a link for Oakdale News. Clicking it he sees
Oakdale Residents and Memorial Hospital staff welcomes Dr. Reid Oliver: Molly Conlan- Snyder.
Oakdale is pleased to welcome its newest resident, Dr. Reid Oliver. Having arrived in town in mid-January for a patient consult, Dr. Oliver quickly garnered the attention of our small town when his expert opinion kept a prominent Oakdale citizen from being expedited to Malta on false murder charges. As the wife of said citizen, this reporter can whole heartedly say she's grateful for Dr. Oliver. As for Dr. Oliver's future in Oakdale? Word has recently come through that thanks to generous donations from two local benefactors, Dr. Oliver will be heading up a new neurosurgical wing designed to his specifications being dedicated to Brad Snyder, beloved husband and father who died only a few months before Dr. Oliver's arrival in town.
From there, Greg found a clip from a local show, Oakdale Now, about the new wing. He watched a perky blonde host introduce one of the benefactors as well as the Chief of Staff for Memorial and finally a thirtyish man with auburn hair and brown eyes as Dr. Reid Oliver. It became clear to him that this was the infant's father. Then looked to his – no, the doctor's son and came to a decision.
An hour later, he had packed up Jo and with his printed directions, headed out to Oakdale, Illinois.
Reid was just about to go meet his boyfriend for lunch when there was a knock on the door
"Go Away." Reid said. The person on the other side was obviously an idiot as he pushed the door open anyway and said
"Dr. Oliver?"
"I'm glad you can read since you obviously can't hear. I said go away." Reid said.
"Dr. Oliver I need you to look at my baby." Mystery guy said.
"Then again maybe I spoke too soon about your ability to read. If you look on the door under my name it says head of neurology which means I look at brains not babies. Pediactrics is on the next floor.
"I assure you Dr. Oliver you'll want to look at this baby." Mystery guy pushed the door open farther, walked in holding a newborn car seat and closed the door. Sitting the thing on the desk, the guy slowly uncovered the baby.
Reid gasped at the newborn that had his eyes and the exact same shade of auburn hair as his own.
"Who are you?" Reid asked.
"Oh sorry. Dr. Oliver I'm Greg Roberts, Dr. Alyssa King's husband and this is your son."
"My what?" He asked.
"Your son. I'm sure you remember Alyssa don't you?"
Of course he remembered Dr. Alyssa King. She had been the closest thing he'd had to a friend at Dallas Mercy. She'd begged him to donate his sperm so she could have a baby. He'd finally agreed on the terms that she'd never try to get him involved in the child's life. He'd assumed that the sample had been destroyed when she got married and moved away. But if the baby that looked just like him sitting in front of him was to be believed she obviously hadn't gotten rid of the sample but used it anyway.
"Alyssa got rid of that sample when she got married."
"Okay, well you're obviously not the genius those articles made you out to be so I'll explain. Alyssa most definitely did not destroy that sample as you can clearly see.
"But why would she….?" Greg cut him off
"She told me about you and her plans although she didn't give me your name out of respect for your privacy so when we discovered that I couldn't get her pregnant she told me that she hadn't gotten rid of your sperm and convinced me that if she couldn't have my children then she'd like to have yours. I was hesitant at first but she assured me you had good genes, no family health problems, blah blah, whatever finally I conceded."
"So how'd you find me? Since Alyssa didn't tell you?"
"One of the doctors at the hospital recognized the resemblance, uncanny isn't it? Anyway, he told me your name and about the rumors about you and Alyssa. When I heard the name I figured it was worth looking into. When I found the video clip of you on Oakdale Now and saw the resemblance I knew it had to be true."
"But why are you here? She promised me I'd never be a part of the child's life if one came to be."
"Oh she told me that too but you see Alyssa was in a car accident a few days ago. They were able to deliver the baby safely as he was full term but Alyssa didn't make it."
"What do you want Mr. Robert's?"
"I want my wife to be alive. I want to be the person she asked for with her dying breath instead of you. I wanted to raise this child with my wife blissfully ignorant of who you were but since I can't have those things, I want to unite father and son for a price of course."
"You want me to pay you for a baby you claim is mine that I never wanted in the first place?"
"Yes, yes I do. I don't want to raise another man's baby without Alyssa so here I am. And if you don't believe that he's yours you can have him tested, at your expense of course. But if you decide you still don't want him then he'll go into the foster care system as I sure as hell don't want him. Besides I think Alyssa would want this. She thought very highly of you, even insisted we name him after you, well middle name anyway. So….?"
Reid gulped. He didn't want a baby. He'd finally gotten his relationship with Luke in a good place, god only knew how Luke would react to suddenly having a baby thrown into the mix. But he couldn't let this guy put his son, if he was indeed his, go into foster care. He'd been in foster care for nearly a year after his parents died while they looked for his uncle. It had been horrible.
"So… we'll get him tested." Reid said.
Twenty minutes later, Reid dropped the paternity test off at the lab; putting a rush on it then went straight to Katie's. He'd called Luke and told him something came up. Thankfully Katie was home. He let himself in with the key he still had even though he'd recently moved in with Luke.
"What's wrong?" Katie asked.
"What makes you think something's wrong?"
"Uh, you're here and not with Luke. Now spill Reid what's wrong."
Before he knew it, it was all spilling out. The visit from Greg Roberts, donating his sperm to Alyssa, Alyssa's accident and death, and the extortion. Katie sat there, eyes wide, mouth hanging open but stayed silent.
"What are you going to do?"
"I'm having him tested but I'm sure he's mine. He looked just like me, it was eerie. Other than that… I don't know. I don't have time for a baby. Between the Chief of Staff and running the neuro wing I barely have time for Luke. Oh God, how's Luke going to react. I can't lose Luke."
"You're not going to lose Luke. Reid. He'll be shocked for sure but give Luke more credit than that. He loves you and he loves kids, you see how he takes care of his brothers and sisters, so I have no doubt he'll love your kid."
Katie was pretty sure she'd quashed that fear when Reid's phone rang. He answered it. Katie could tell from the way Reid suddenly went pale that it was the hospital. She watched carefully. Reid thanked whoever was on the other end, that couldn't be a good sign, then hung up the phone. He barely made it back to the couch before his knees buckled. When he nodded in response to her unasked question, he automatically reached for the pillow he had always hugged when he was nervous or upset he'd messed up with Luke. She stood up, taking her cell phone from her purse she called Luke. When he picked up she told him that Reid was with her and that he needed to come over as soon as possible. When he'd asked what was wrong, she'd assured him that Reid wasn't hurt or anything but Reid had gotten some news today and that Reid would explain when he got here. She hung up, and made Reid a sandwich. Secretly she was excited but she concealed it knowing Reid was shocked and panicking. She didn't realize how bad it was though until she sat the sandwich down in front of Reid and he didn't even blink let alone move.
Ten minutes later Luke let himself in. Immediately he noticed Reid hugging a pillow and Katie sitting next to him. When he saw the untouched sandwich concern turned to worry. Katie noticed him and vacated the seat on the couch next to Reid. He immediately took that spot, and took Reid's hand in his.
"Luke. I didn't know. I thought she'd destroyed it. I didn't think she'd used it."
"Reid. You're not making any sense. You've gotta start at the beginning."
Reid stared at Luke's hand entwined with his. He wondered briefly how long Luke's hand would stay there once he finished saying what he needed to say. He kept his gaze on their hands until Luke hooked a finger under his chin forcing Reid to look at him.
"Reid what happened? Why are you so upset?"
"I got a visit from the husband of an old friend. She was in a car accident a few days ago and died." Luke pulled his hand away, before pulling him into a hug.
"I'm sorry."
"They were able to deliver the baby safely before she died though." Luke just sat there, waiting for him to go on.
"Luke, the baby. The baby is mine."
"What?"
"My son. Alyssa gave birth to my son." It hit Reid then.
"My son. I have a son." Reid noticed Luke shoot Katie a confused look. Katie looked at him, her eyes asking permission to tell the story he obviously couldn't tell. He nodded.
"Luke, when Reid worked in Dallas, a friend of his asked him for a sperm donation which he gave. She fell in love and got married before she actually used Reid's donation but she didn't get rid of it. When she and her husband discovered he couldn't father children, they used Reid's sperm to impregnate her."
Reid waited for Luke to disentangle himself from him but all Luke did was hug him tighter. Katie continued.
"This woman's husband showed up at Reid's office earlier and dropped this bomb. The guy wants money or he's going to put the child in foster care." Katie said quietly. Immediately Luke understood why Reid was so upset. Reid had recently opened up about his childhood including time spent in a foster home while the state looked for his uncle.
"Reid how much is he asking for?"
"One hundred thousand." Reid mumbled.
"We'll pay it. Okay. And then we'll go from there." Luke said.
"See, Reid. I told you." Katie said. Luke looked at her confused.
"Reid was worried about how you'd react. Whether he'd lose you."
"Reid look at me." Luke waited until he looked into his eyes. "I love you. I am not leaving." He searched Luke's eyes. Seeing truth there, he smiled and released his hold on the pillow. Luke pulled him into a tighter hug. He whispered in Reid's ear
"You thought a baby would make me leave you? Never. What part of forever don't you understand Dr. Oliver." He smiled again at the pet name.
An hour later, Greg pushed the baby stroller into a small family restaurant called Al's dinner and was trying to decide whether to get food to go or eat in when he noticed Dr. Oliver sitting in a booth next to a twenty something blonde guy. He was leaning into the guy whose arm was around him. He looked around to the other tables, nobody was even blinking an eye – where were the closed minded people in this hell hole of a town? Sitting across from the gays was a pretty thirty something blonde. He caught Dr. Oliver's gaze for a second before he pushed the stroller over to the booth.
"Mr. Roberts this is Luke Snyder and Katie Snyder."
"Nice to meet you both." He eyes Luke and Katie, it's unlikely in a town this small that they have the same last name and aren't related somehow.
Jo screaming suddenly breaks the weird silence. He takes the baby out of the stroller and automatically both Luke and Katie's eyes soften. He picks Jo up and tries to get him to calm down. After a few minutes he's at his wits end.
"Can I try?" Katie asks
"Sure."
"What's his name?" Luke asks.
"Jackson Oliver Roberts but I call him Jo." He says. Luke smiles at that, looking at Dr. Oliver. Suddenly a man wearing an extremely busy shirt comes over carrying a tray of food. The waiter looks at Jo then Dr. Oliver and shakes his head.
Katie has to resist the urge to take Reid's son and just run with him. She smiles at the baby's name. She's cooing at the baby when Henry brings there food. She notices Henry look at the baby, who for his age does look strangely like Reid, then at Reid and shake his head.
"Henry stop gawking at Reid and the baby. Yes they look alike, Reid is the baby's father." Henry's jaw drops
"But how?" Henry says looking at Luke and Reid.
"Aren't you a little old to not know where babies come from?" Reid says. Henry glares at him.
"I know where babies come from but since I'm assuming that neither of you were the first male to give birth I'm wondering how you ended up with a child."
"Henry stop being so stupid, he donated his sperm to help a friend of his who wanted a baby get pregnant."
"You had friends before you met these two?" Henry said, gesturing at Luke and Katie.
"Every once and a while someone meets my high standards."
"Yeah but how do you find someone willing to lower their standards so much?"
"Hey!" Luke and Katie said in unison.
Luke shares a look with Katie. Relief. This was affecting Reid more than he would ever admit. Reid had never had a problem with PDA but the way Reid had pressed himself against Luke like he was terrified that Luke would run away and never look back if they broke contact was unusual to say the least. And the fact that Reid had not yelled for somebody to come over and take his order was downright concerning especially given the untouched sandwich they'd left in Katie's fridge. He's relieved to see Reid and Henry snark at each other. Finally they get around to ordering and it looks like Reid's appetite has returned. Slowly Luke shifts hoping to get Reid off his arm that's fallen asleep. Reid's gaze connects with his. They hold each others gaze for a long moment before Reid sits forward allowing him to move his arm. Gritting his teeth slightly over the pins and needles feeling in his arm, he takes Reid's hand in his, entwining their fingers.
Once Henry has taken everybody's order and left, Luke gently squeezed Reid's hand before saying
"We're going to give you what you want. Meet us tomorrow at the bar in the Lakeview at two." Luke said.
"I'm sure I have no idea what you're talking about." He said, eyeing Katie.
"Ugh, give it up. I know what you're doing to my best friend and HIS son." Katie huffed, standing up quickly. Luke grabbed her arm, giving her a look. He understood that she no longer wanted to be around the son of a bitch that was hurting Reid then having the nerve to hit on her but Reid needed his support system.
Katie sighed and nodded. Luke scooted over in the booth, pulling Reid with him so Katie would have space on the other side of Reid. Sitting down, Katie put the baby carefully in Reid's free arm. Reid looked at him startled. Luke nods and squeezes his hand. Reid needs to get used to this if he decides to keep his son.
Greg watches as Reid holds Jo, Luke and Katie both turning their attention fully toward him, whispering instructions and reassurances. It was kind of amusing like watching a child hold a baby. Both Katie and Luke there at the ready if Dr. Oliver falters; watching panic slowly grow into confidence and awe as he holds his son for the first time.
He notices Katie watching him watch Dr. Oliver with the baby. He can read what she's thinking by the expression on her face. She's hoping that seeing this will pull at his heartstrings and he'll just leave the baby without the money.
Greg stands up, reaches over snatching Jo from Dr. Oliver, and leaving just as the food arrives. He barks at Henry to take it back and put it in some to go bags.
Ten minutes later he's gone.
The next day, at the Lakeview Luke and Reid walk into the bar at exactly two o'clock. Spotting Mr. Roberts they all get a table and order their drinks. Skipping over any inane chit chat, Luke takes the check out and sets it in the middle of the table. They watch as he picks up the check and rip it in pieces.
"What the hell? We gave you the amount you asked for."
"You didn't think I come to this meeting without doing my homework did you?." Mr. Roberts says. When neither he or Luke says anything, Mr. Roberts continues
"I asked for a hundred grand when I thought Dr. Oliver was paying. I thought that was a reasonable amount given the amount of money he makes but you Mr. Snyder are worth so much more and since I'm giving up the son my wife gave birth to the day she died I decided I want two million."
"What?"
"You heard me… two million." Reid glares at the monster sitting before him. How could Alyssa have married such a man? He wondered. One look at Luke told him that Luke would pay that and more if that's what he wanted.
"Luke. No. We don't have to give in to this greedy son of a bitch. I have the paternity test to prove the child is mine and with Lucinda's help I'm sure we can get him out of foster care within a few days."
Luke looks at him, searching his face. Slowly he nods, grabs Reid's hand stands up.
"Deals off, Mr. Roberts, Reid is right, we'll take our chances with the foster care system. Goodbye."
They left without looking back. Later that night, Luke called his Grandmother as well as his mother to discuss what they were going to do now.
To say he was pissed would be an understatement but Greg doesn't believe in regrets so instead of mourning the check he had in his hands, he moves on to Plan B. A quick call to a friend gives him the name of the best black market adoption lawyer in the business.
He sets up an appointment with Richard Novak.
"Mr. Roberts." Novak said when a fortyish man opens the door to the hotel room holding a baby.
"Mr. Novak?" the guy asks.
"Novak is fine. So I take it this is the child?" Novak asks.
"Yes. This is Jackson Oliver Roberts. So how does this work?"
"I find a couple who pays out the nose for your little bundle of joy, we both get paid, I never see you again."
"How much can you get?" Novak looks at the baby.
"Probably about twenty thousand."
"Twenty thousand?" The guy asks then mumbles under his breath about stupid fags and two million dollars. When Novak realizes who the stupid fags the guy is mumbling about must be, he decides to call his poker buddy, sensing a much bigger payday.
"Is ten thousand not enough?" Novak asks, pulling out his phone, he dials.
"Hey Henry, I've got a guy here trying to sell me his kid, except it ain't his kid. He just told me how he almost made two mil off of the kid's bio dad and his rich as hell boyfriend." He hears Henry gasp as he realizes who he's talking about.
"I thought maybe I'd let you know and we'd be even on the favor thing."
"Yeah sure." Henry hangs up on him.
Luke is holding Reid's hand trying to keep him calm, as his grandmother speaks to her connections about getting his son out of foster care as quickly and painlessly as possible, anything to keep Reid from having the panic attack he knows the doctor is on the verge of. Suddenly his phone goes off. Reid looks at him, the panic growing in his eyes. Luke listens intently and the huge smile begins to form. Hanging up his phone and coming back to the group, he says
"I think we just got a big break. That was Henry. One of his poker buddies owed him a favor so when this guy shows up trying to sell a kid complaining that he just lost two mil cuz the kid's dad and his boyfriend decided not to pay, said poker buddy realized who the guy was talking about and called Henry." '
"So he was never planning on using the legal foster care system."
"Apparently not." Luke said.
"If I'd just let you pay…." Luke cut him off.
"This isn't your fault. That guy wasn't going to give us that baby even if we had paid him."
"What do you mean Luke?" Lucinda asked.
"Henry said that his buddy told him that the guy with the baby had one request and I quote 'don't let any fags have him'"
Luke could see that the words didn't comfort Reid, and why should they. This was a horrible situation.
"Luke does this guy know you're a Grimaldi?"
"Not that I know of why?" Luke asked, puzzled by his mother's question.
"Because I know how to get the baby." Lily said, quickly explaining her plan. When they all agreed to it, Lily called Damian while Luke called Henry back.
"Tell your poker buddy that if he'll do this for us he'll get the two million Mr. Roberts was talking about."
The plan was set.
The next day, Greg got a call saying that Novak had a couple wanting to adopt. When he got there he met a nice straight couple who were late thirties early forties. They explained that they'd been trying for years but no such luck. They chatted for several minutes before the man handed Novak a pre written check. Novak slyly pocketed the check without letting him see the amount. He handed over the baby with all the baby stuff.
He offered his hand to the man, but instead of shaking it he twisted it around to where it felt like his arm would snap while the woman called out
"Luke, Reid!"
Greg watched as Dr. Oliver and his boyfriend came into the room and collected the child. Then Mr. Snyder turned to him and said
"I see your research into me didn't get much further than how much money I have. I'd like for you to meet my father, Damian Grimaldi, head of the Maltese Crime family." Mr. Snyder smiled.
"Keeping a man from his son, trying to sell a child, there is a special place in hell for men like you and by the time I'm done with you, you will wish you were there." Damian whispered before everything went black.
"Dr. Oliver, I understand that this is a lot to process especially given a month ago you had no idea you had a child but there are several options available to you. You can keep your child, obviously, and I'll help you change the birth certificate and of course I'd be available if anyone is adopting the child in the future…" Ms. White looked pointedly at Luke, then continued…." Or you can give the child up for adoption. If you choose adoption, you can choose either a closed adoption where you sign over your parental rights and never see the child again unless the child comes to find you after they turn eighteen or you can have an open adoption where while you still have to give up parental rights, you would be able to have whatever relationship with the child that both you and the adoptive parents are comfortable with." With that Ms. White, the lawyer Lucinda had hired to help them left the room giving them time to talk.
"Whatever you want Reid, I'm behind you." Luke said quietly. Reid's head was spinning. He'd never wanted a child before, but then again he'd never wanted what he had with Luke before he actually met Luke. He also knew that Luke would want a family at some point so sooner or later he was going to have children.
"Let's start a family." Luke beamed, and before he knew it he was too. When Ms. White came back in, he said
"You can start on the paperwork so Luke can adopt Jo." Reid said. Ms. White smiled and said
"Why yes I can, I must warn you though the process will be long. Sadly it's still difficult for a gay couple to adopt but seeing as one of you is the biological parent should make it somewhat easier but…"
"Are there any other ways to make it less difficult?" Luke asked.
"Being unmarried makes adoption hard for anybody gay or straight." She said. He looked at Luke who looked at him and nodded to his unasked question before turning to Ms. White.
"Can we invite you to the wedding?"
Less than a month later…. Reid couldn't believe he was here, getting married and a soon to be father. Someone clearing their throat brought him out of his thoughts.
"I do." He said, smiling.
"And do you Luciano Eduardo Grimaldi take this man as your lawful husband?" Henry asked.
"I do." Luke beamed back at him.
"I pronounce you married. You may kiss your spouse."
As they stood around, greeting their guests, Ms. White walked up carrying the baby.
"Congratulations." She said, handing them the papers to be signed.
With the papers signed, she handed over the baby. "And I can also congratulate the proud parents of Jackson Oliver King-Snyder."