The Other Gilbert Girl

A Few Good Men

   "Phoebe!" Jenna calls from downstairs. I'm grounded for a few days because of the whole getting super wasted thing. But, the hangover was enough to get me to stop drinking for a while. I go downstairs and to the kitchen.
     "So I told you both I would do some digging on your birth parents. You're dad kept everything from his medical practice-- records, logs, old appointment books. I found an entry from the night Elena was born. Patient and a birthdate. Isobel Peterson." She tells us and I look over at the log.
     "Do you think that's her real name?" Elena asks her.
    "Pregnant teenage runaway? Probably not. First name, maybe. But where'd she get Peterson? Classmate? Best friend? So I binged it. I searched for all the Peterson's in this area born the same year as Isobel, found 3-- two men and a women, Trudie, who lived in Grovehill, Virginia." Jenna tells us.
    "Nice stalking skills, Aunt Jenna." I tell her with a laugh.
    "That's not far from here." Elena says.
    "Well, watch this." Jenna says and searches something else and another page comes up. With a year book page.
    "Isobel. She was a cheerleader." Elena says with a smile.
    "Isobel Fleming." I say out loud.
   "Trudie still lives there. This is her address." Jenna says and hands Elena the address.
   "What about Isobel?" Elena asks.
   "I couldn't find anything about her. Listen. There's something else. Mr. Saltzman, Ric. His wife was from around here, and her name was also Isobel." Jenna says and I stare at her in shock.
   "Wait. Was, as in..." Elena starts.
   "She died." Jenna continues.
   "Do we think.. I mean, Mr. Saltzman, he couldn't be... My birth dad?" I ask her.
    "I really don't know. I'm sure he would have said something if he knew." She tells me.
    "Right. Well I have to get to work. I'm still aloud to go there aren't I?" I ask Jenna.
    "Yes, you are not grounded from work." She tells me with a sigh.

I'm in the backroom at the grill getting some more napkins, when I walk out by the bar I see Damon and Mr. Saltzman sitting there drinking.
    "Oh, uh. Hey, Mr. Saltzman. Hi, Damon." I greet them and fill the napkin holders on the bar.
    "Hey tiniest gilbert." Damon says. "Wanna get me a bourbon?" He asks.
    "I- I'm not old enough to serve alcohol." I tell them.
    "Oh, well get someone who can." He tells me and I roll my eyes and go to the back to get the bartender. When I walk back out I share a glance with Mr. Saltzman before walking away.
    "Phoebe." He calls after me and gets up from the bar.
    "I have tables to wait. I can't do this right now." I tell him.
    "Take your lunch break." He tells me.
    "I can't the other waiter is on hers." I tell him.
    "Then I'll wait until you can get on yours." He tells me.
    "Oh. Okay, um you can sit at that table." I tell him purposely putting him on one of the other waiters tables.
All while I'm waiting tables I'm dreading my lunch break. I wanted to talk to Alaric about his wife and the fact that he might be my birth dad but I was still scared of the answers I might get.
    "Gilbert, take your lunch break!" My boss tells me.
    "Oh, I'm fine." I tell him.
    "Look, I'm required by law to let you have a 20 minute lunch break, especially when your working 2 shifts today. Now, take your lunch break." He tells me and I comply. I go back into the kitchen and buy a side of fries and when I walk back out I can see Mr. Saltzman waiting for me. I walk over to his table and sit down across from him in the booth. I set my fries down on the table and eat some over the course of about 3 minutes.
    "So, I actually have a time limit on my break. So, I'm thinking you should say what you wanted to say."  I tell him.
    "Right, yeah. I'm sorry. So, Jenna told me that Isobel, my wife, is your's and Elena's birth mom. But you guys have different dads." He says and I nod in agreement with him. "And I want to start of with saying that she didn't tell me about you or Elena. I had no idea, I promise."
    "Okay, I believe you." I tell him.
   "I did the math. It adds up, the first year I met her in college. We had hooked up in the first few weeks of college. We were together for maybe 3 and a half months. That's when she had to leave for a family emergency, she did classes on line. We stayed together long distance. She came back around 6 months later, early June." He tells me.
    "I was born May 15." I tell him.
    "See, the math is right, You have a male sweatshirt for Duke, the college I went to and it was left with you on your doorstep. And your name, Phoebe. It's my grandma's name. It's the name I always wanted to name my child if I ever had a girl." He says.
   "This is crazy." I tell him.
   "I know. We can get a DNA test if you'd like. I mean that's one way to be sure."
    "Why do you seem so happy about this? I mean aren't you freaking out right now?" I ask him in disbelief.
    "Yes, I am freaking out. But if you are my daughter and I didn't know, then I have a hell of a lot to make up for." He tells me.
    "Okay, I have an hour 4-5 off in between my shifts. We can go to the hospital then, get some DNA tests, to be sure." I tell him and he nods.
    "Yeah. I'll come back then."
    "I'll just meet you there." I tell him and he nods and I get up and clear my now empty fries plate and walk to the back to clock back in after my break. I look at the clock and see I have 5 minutes of my break left. I take out my phone and call Jo. It goes to voicemail, so I hang up. I call Elena and she answers.
    "Mr. Saltzman was just at the grill. We agreed to go get DNA tests on my break between shifts." I rush out.
    "Oh my god."
   "Yeah, I guess Jenna told him and he did all the math and now thinks I'm biologically his daughter. He said that if I am he had no idea and he wants to make up for it." 
    "That's crazy, I mean what kind of coincidence is it that he came to this town and your here." She says.
    "Yeah. I'm freaking out. What if he is my biological dad?" I ask her.
   "I don't know. I guess that'd be cool." She says.
   "Yeah, and a little weird I mean Jenna is dating him." I say and we both share a laugh.
    " I went to see Trudie. I know I should have waited it was just a spur of the moment thing." She tells me.
    "No, you're fine. I didn't even want to see her before talking with, Mr. Saltzman." I tell her.
    "Don't you think you should call him Ric or something?" She asks me.
   "No, I will when we get the DNA results." I tell her. "Okay, my break is over. I need to go." I tell her.
    "Okay, bye. Love you, keep me updated." She tells me.
    "Will do, bye." I say and hang up.

   
                                ▫️▫️▫️

A little while later I'm back at the grill. The whole DNA test thing was a little awkward. They took some blood and they said they would have the results sometime in the next week. I was standing with Hunter watching the whole bachelor thing. No one was ordering that much food, mostly drinks from the bar. Next up was Damon. He went on to talk about how he knew Mr. Saltzman's wife. I look at Hunter confused. A few minutes later I make my way over to Damon after Elena leaves him.
     "How do you know Mr. Saltzman's wife?" I asked him.
    "I didn't really know her, just ran into her. I didn't know she was Elena's birth mom." He tells me.
   "Not only Elena's, mine too. We share the same mom, different dads." I tell him.
   "Oh, does that mean the history teacher is..?" He asks.
   "Not 100% positive yet. He didn't know Isobel got pregnant, but they were together around the time I was born and stuff. Got DNA test today. Can you just keep it on the DL? Only people who know are Elena, you and your brothers and my aunt." I tell him.
   "Yeah, no problem." He says and walks away.

Later I knock on Elena's room door.
    "Hey, it's been a crazy day, I was just wondering. Can I sleep in here tonight?" I ask her. She scoots over and pats a spot on the bed.  I run over to the bed and get under the covers.
    "Thanks, Elena."