Thanks, Dad

Chapter 3

Noah noticed Luke immediately when he opened his eyes after surgery.

"Hey," Luke said.

"Hey," Noah slowly replied. "How's Dusty?"

"So far so good."

"Good."

"So, now we can finally have that talk," Luke suggested, smiling.

Noah chuckled slightly. "You were telling me before that your foundation is doing very well. A couple new allies?"

"Yeah, they'll be a lot of help when we do outreach projects."

"Great."

"So how's Hollywood?"

"It's nice. It's intense."

"And work?"

"It's good, too. I've done a lot of work that I'm proud of. And this, this is definitely out there. It's a good experience, I think. I didn't think I would get to take the lead and do so much this soon."

"Meet anyone nice out in California?"

"No."

"Why not?" Luke asked.

Noah didn't answer. He looked at Luke expectantly.

"Have you met anyone since I left?" Noah finally asked.

"Nope. I've been waiting for you."

"I've been waiting for us to get back together, too. I mean, I'll admit, when I was out there, I was starting to wonder if we would ever be in the same state again. I didn't know if I should hold out for us, if what we've been saying was supposed to stick."

"I was thinking the same thing, and I couldn't come up with an answer." Luke smiled after a pause in the conversation. "I'm glad you're back, even if it's just for these commercials. These mini-episodes of a woman looking for love."

"I know, it's like our first project together with Maddie."

Luke leaned in and kissed Noah's forehead.

Two days later, Luke helped Noah to a large room in the WOAK studio with green wallpaper on three of the walls. A series of statues were placed in two lines.

"Those are some nice statues," Luke commented.

"Glad you like them," Leo said nearby. "They're all in the same style as the sample. Same material, too." Leo approached and shook Noah's and Luke's hands. Danny followed.

Shooting soon began with Kate on a fake balcony looking down onto the green screen.

Grace approached Luke during the filming.

"You must be Luke Snyder," Grace said as she took Luke's hand and shook it. "Grace Valentine."

"Nice to meet you," Luke replied.

"You're such a good friend for helping Noah after his surgery." Grace looked at Luke expectantly. "Or are you more than that?"

Luke suddenly looked nervous. "It's . . . complicated."

"Well, I won't pry. Has Noah told you about the plans for these commercials?"

"Yeah, I think it's great."

"He seems so natural at romance."

"Yeah, he's very creative."

"What about you?"

"Nah, not compared to him."

"Well, I'm sure you have some nice ideas yourself for romance. What do you think would be an absolutely romantic meal?"

"Just off the top of my head?" Luke asked, smiling.

"Just an idea of one. It doesn't have to be your ideal or anything personal."

"How about . . . a picnic in a secluded park near a waterfall, on a warm day with some sun, but not too much. Just a quiet moment with me and my boyfriend, except with all the waterfall noise, of course."

"Sounds lovely."

Grace called for a meeting as the day's shooting wrapped up.

"Unfortunately," Grace began, "our researchers have concluded that two of our chemicals are allergens for a significant proportion of our market."

"Why are they just discovering this now?" Kate asked.

"They believe it's related to the seasonal changes and sensitivities. We can't carry a product that people can use only part of the year, so we're abandoning this perfume."

"That's a shame," Noah said. "Why stop production because of two chemicals?"

"They're what makes our perfume unique. If we removed or replaced them, we wouldn't be different enough to penetrate the market," Grace answered.

"So the commercials are off?" Luke asked.

"I spoke to our partners at length about this topic. We're not doing the commercials anymore. Instead, we're doing a short film."

Noah and Luke both looked confused, while the members of Valentine, Inc. tried their best to also look confused by information they already knew.

"We're cutting our losses with the perfume, but we don't want to cut our losses with the shooting, so we're going to fund a short film with money re-allocated from the perfume and hope that we can use it later on for cross-promotions. It'll mark an important foray into a new industry. That means we need a more substantial plot and more time. Noah, can you continue working with us?"

"Yeah, sure, I can do that."

"Good. So, we have so far a woman looking at statues and finally choosing one that captures her attention. Now what? Any ideas?"

"We've already put together an Ancient Greek setting," Danny offered. "We should keep it."

"All right, what if the woman is looking for a human who was turned to stone by Medusa?" Noah suggested. "She walks around some statues and finally finds the victim among real statues. Then she does something to turn him back into flesh and rekindle their romance."

Grace beamed. "Noah, that's fantastic! Didn't I say you'd be worth every cent?"

"I love the idea," Kate added.

"Luke, you had a nice idea for a romantic meal earlier. Why don't you tell us what it was?"

"Oh," Luke said, smiling bashfully. "It's nothing. I just thought a picnic by a waterfall in a secluded park would be a nice romantic thing to do, especially if it's mostly sunny."

"I like it. It's great," Noah said.

"Yeah?" Luke questioned.

"I would have liked doing that with you."

Luke appeared to gush, making Grace smile widely.

"Anything you would have added to that, Noah?"

Noah considered the question briefly. "Maybe make it a dinner picnic and then watch the sunset together, maybe lie down to watch the sky afterward."

"Then it's settled," Grace said. "Let's take the next two days off from shooting for script development and getting an actor. I'll have an assistant put out a call for auditions the day after tomorrow."

"How does someone reverse another person getting turned into stone by Medusa?" Kate asked.

No one seemed to know.

"Phoebe might know," Leo said. "I'll ask her tonight."

Noah visited Dusty later in the day to update each other on their progresses.

"That's great," Dusty told Noah. "Have you ever considered basing yourself in Chicago?"

"Briefly, but I figured Hollywood would be a better starting point."

"And now you've started, so how does Chicago look now?"

Noah shrugged.

"Wasn't the last Transformers movie partially shot in Chicago? And most of The Dark Knight?"

"Yeah, but I can't just pack up and move everything."

"You could start a new, small production company."

"That requires a lot more capital than I have."

"Not more than what I have, though. Hardly a fraction of it."

"What are you saying?" Noah asked.

"I want to help you."

"I can't ask that of you."

"You're not asking. I'm offering."

"Because you're my dad?"

"And because I'm the only friend you've had here outside of Luke's social circle. I think either of these reasons alone is enough."

"I don't know what to say."

"How about 'Thanks' and "I'll make good movies?'"

Noah smiled. "Thanks a lot. I'll make good movies."

"You're welcome."

Noah worked on the script the next day with Luke, Grace, Kate, and Danny.

"If we leave a little room for improvisation, we're all set except for the scene where Kate turns the guy back into flesh," Noah said.

"I did some research on that," Luke said. "I couldn't find anything."

"Phoebe didn't know," Leo said.

"There were two sources, obscure sources, that identified a solution," a voice said. Everyone turned and saw Ari. "The blood from one of the veins from her neck," Ari finished, as he pulled out a vial of blood.

"Dad, what are you doing here?" Danny asked. Like his colleagues, he was surprised.

"Phoebe asked me about Medusa, so I thought I'd drop by with some help."

"Do you have the citation for those sources?" Luke asked Ari.

"Oh, who needs citations? You're making a fictional movie; you can make your own rules." Ari handed the vial to Noah.

"Thanks," Noah said.

Ari nodded before departing. The meeting continued and Luke contributed to writing the transformation scene.

Later, Luke drove Noah to a park.

"What are we doing here?" Noah asked.

"Grace's suggestion. She thought it'd be nice to play out the date scene to make sure it'll work. Maybe for other reasons, too, but I didn't want to refuse. She had already made dinner for us herself."

Noah later told Luke about Dusty's gift.

"You're moving to Chicago, then?" Luke asked.

"Yeah, I didn't know how to refuse. Plus, it's not far away. I can see Dusty more now. And you."

"You want that? The last part?"

"Yeah, of course."

"I was thinking about what you said when you woke up from surgery. I don't know if what we said was supposed to stick when you left Oakdale, but that doesn't matter. I want to get back together with you. That's what matters. I want to be your boyfriend again."

Noah leaned in and kissed Luke on the lips.

Within three weeks, the short film was completed, Dusty had been discharged from the hospital for outpatient care, and Noah began his move back to Illinois, with Luke helping every step of the way.

"They're going to be very happy together," Phoebe concluded.

After hearing the good news from Phoebe, Danny visited Ari.

"Noah said that not even short films get developed and shot so quickly. Anyway, Leo said the blood in the vial was real blood, that it probably was the actual Medusa's blood," Danny said.

"Well, I thought it was necessary for production," Ari said. "Besides, it's not like there was much use for it anymore."

"You made a trip overnight for us, on very short notice, when Noah could make whatever rules he wanted about Medusa. Why did you do that?"

"Like I said, I might not support this business you're in, but I do support you." Ari poured out some liquor.

"Care for something to drink?"

"Thanks, dad."

The end. Thanks for reading!