AN: Don't own Noah, Luke, Reid, Holden, Lily, any vehicle mentioned, the sleeping bag, the farm, the snowstorm... Wait. I totally own the snowstorm. All mine - take that, corporate meanies! Written for the nuke_anon LJ challenge #5. This will be posted as a two-shot.

When: AU. Takes place the day before Thanksgiving, 2010. Noah still relocated to Los Angeles two months earlier, but there was no train, and Luke and Reid are still a couple.

Noah struggled to make out the road through the blanket of snow, as his wipers labored to clear it from the windshield. His tires, meanwhile, were engaged in a fierce battle to grip the hazardous surface below. Even putting the chains on hadn't helped much when confronted with the perilous ice-and-snow combination coating the road.

He gripped the steering wheel firmly as he attempted to rein in his racing thoughts. He'd been at this only half an hour, but the longer he went without spotting Luke's car, the greater the propensity for panic setting in. Noah knew it was only a matter of time before his own vehicle went off the road, but it didn't matter. Giving up was not an option.

Of all the scenarios Noah had pictured for this holiday trip back to Oakdale, this hadn't been among them. He'd even been hesitant to return home for this visit. Ultimately, he'd been unable to decline Lily's request. The Snyders had done so much for him, and he didn't want to repay that kindness with ingratitude.

Really, Noah wanted to spend Thanksgiving with the Snyders. They were the closest thing he had to a family of his own. And if he was honest with himself, he wanted to see Luke, despite everything. He needed to see Luke.

This was the first Thanksgiving since they'd met that he and Luke weren't a couple. Noah didn't want it to be the first they were apart for a major holiday, too. It was stupid, but he felt as long as they were still together for the holiday, it would be almost like - they were still together.

Of course, they weren't together. A fact that would be nauseatingly obvious once Luke sat down to Thanksgiving dinner with him. Dr. Reid Oliver. Restorer of Noah's sight, and thief of his future.

Though ironically, now Noah would give anything to see that. It would mean Luke was safe in Snyder kitchen - not God knows where in the middle of the biggest blizzard Oakdale had seen in years. The longer Noah went without finding him, the bigger the sick feeling in the pit of his gut became.

By now, the Snyders would have noticed Noah's absence, even if the driving winds covered the sound of his engine starting up. When Luke hadn't arrived at the expected time, Lily called his mobile to get an update on his progress through the snow. She was sent straight to voicemail, and each subsequent call she placed as more time passed with no sign of Luke yielded the same result.

By the time Luke was one hour late, Noah was itching to go search for him. Lily and Holden talked him down, telling Noah they would place a call to Jack and have the Oakdale PD look for him. By the time Luke was two hours late, Noah was frantic. Though he pretended to relent when Luke's parents advised him it would do no good to have two boys missing, as soon as their backs were turned, Noah slipped outside to his truck, driving off in search of Luke.

Now, as Noah waged war with the storm elements, he silently cursed Luke's foolhardiness. Why didn't Luke have the sense to stay put in Bay City, instead of risking his neck trying to get home for Thanksgiving? His stomach sank in realization of the obvious answer.

Luke didn't want to miss his first Thanksgiving with Reid. That's why he was going to such lengths to get home. The storm had come upon the area quickly, having charted a different path than forecasters initially predicted, putting Oakdale squarely in its path.

Noah guessed that if Luke had known in advance about the storm, he would've postponed his meeting in Bay City, rather than chance missing the holiday with his new boyfriend. When Noah had arrived in Oakdale the day before, it was only to find Luke had just left. Lily had explained that Luke was making a presentation at Bay City's hospital, since they had expressed interest in creating a neuro wing similar to the newly opened one at Memorial.

While he tried not to visibly react to the news that Luke wasn't there to see him because he'd gone to another town to pimp Reid's vision, the truth was, it had hurt. Noah was only going to be in town for a few days, and Luke hadn't even bothered to free up that time for him. When he'd left Oakdale, Noah had apologized to Luke for his earlier harsh words, telling Luke that of course they could be friends, and that he'd always care about him - and always love him.

So to him, Luke's absence felt like Luke avoiding him. Maybe he couldn't be Noah's friend; at least, not while he knew Noah was still in love with him. In which case, their friendship was screwed, because Noah wasn't ever not going to be in love with Luke.

He could date the whole of Los Angeles, but still, would never find a substitute for Luke's place in his heart. As painful as it was now, Noah didn't want to find one. It didn't matter that Luke was no longer in love with him. Luke was not only Noah's first love, but the love of his life, full stop.

That's why he was driving through snowmaggedon now. He loved Luke, and Luke was missing. It was a no-brainer. For him, anyway. When Lily had called Reid to inform him that Luke was past an hour late, and couldn't be reached, Reid had taken Lily's advice to stay put at the hospital, and help the patients who needed him.

Maybe that was true, and there were people who needed Reid's help more than Luke at the moment. Once upon a time, Noah had been one of those people, so he could hardly begrudge Reid choosing to remain where he was, and continue treating patients. Still, Noah couldn't imagine being in love with Luke, yet not dropping everything to look for him when he was in trouble.

How strong could the guy's love for Luke be, anyway, if Reid didn't put Luke first? But then, when Noah was blind, he hadn't put Luke first, so he could hardly throw stones in Reid's direction now. Frustrated, Noah tried to shake himself out of these thoughts. They were depressing him, and certainly weren't helping to find Luke.

As he continued slogging though the storm, the visibility became so poor that he nearly missed it. A patch of black against an otherwise white ground, located down an incline off the road. Even though he was driving slowly, Noah's truck skidded as he attempted to bring it to a halt. Fortunately, he was able to control the spin, and right the vehicle before pulling it to the side of the road.

Exiting the truck to investigate, Noah first spotted the faint remnants of tire tracks, mostly snow-covered by now, but still barely visible. He trained his eyes to the ground down the hill, trying to spot the bit of color he'd seen in passing. Finally, he spied it. It was a car, and he was pretty sure it was Luke's car.

Noah raced down the steep drop as speedily as possible, tripping and sliding and trudging through knee-deep snow trying to get to the car. When he reached it, he could see it was almost completely covered in snow. He couldn't assess the vehicle for damage, let alone see if anyone was inside.

Desperately, Noah made his way to the driver's side, and began wiping off the window with his arm. At first, the ice layer underneath made seeing inside difficult. But after a moment, he spied movement within, and then suddenly, a head turned to face him, greeting him with an astonished stare.

"Luke! Oh my God," Noah said as he tried unsuccessfully to open the driver's side. "Are you hurt? Can you unlock the door?"

Luke shook his head. "I'm okay. It is unlocked. It must be frozen."

Noah nodded. "All right - pull on the handle from your side when I pull on it out here, ok? Ready? Now!"

Luke missed the cue, and looked apologetically up at Noah. "I thought you were going to count to three or something," he explained sheepishly.

Noah briefly closed his eyes, caught squarely between annoyance and amusement. Only Luke would expect a countdown for such a simple action. "All right," Noah instructed. "On three."

"Wait!" Luke answered. "Do I pull on three? Or after three? Like, 1, 2, 3, pull? Or 1, 2, pull?"

"Jesus, Luke," Noah answered in exasperation. "I said on three!" Trying to curb his aggravation, he added, "So, 1, 2, pull, okay?"

"Okay," Luke answered, seemingly satisfied with the plan.

"One… two…," Noah began. "THREE!"

Both men yanked on their handles simultaneously, while Noah pulled and Luke pushed, finally dislodging the door with a crack of the ice that covered it. As Noah reached down to assist Luke from the car, he was horrified to spot a trail of dried blood on the side of Luke's face.

"You are hurt!" Noah charged, then tried to calm himself. Panicking about Luke's possible injuries wouldn't do him any good.

"Just bumped my head in the accident, but don't freak. I didn't pass out or anything."

Noah nodded as he helped Luke out of the car. Now that Luke was standing beside him, Noah could see him clearly, and noticed with concern that Luke's skin was pale, and his lips seemed to have a slight bluish tinge.

"We need to get you to the truck. It's warm there."

They trudged through the deep snow, soaking their clothes in icy dampness, and it was soon clear that Luke was greatly weakened from his ordeal. Noah noticed him struggling, and took his arm, draping it around Noah's neck to support him. When they began to climb up to the truck, Luke fell almost immediately, then apologized to Noah, embarrassed.

"No, it's okay," Noah told him. He realized with growing unease there was no way Luke could scale the hill, and judging from the crestfallen face before him, saw that Luke knew it, too.

"Okay," Noah announced decisively. "Climb on." He turned his back to Luke, and squatted slightly to lower himself.

At first confused, Luke protested once it dawned on him what Noah was proposing. "You can't carry me up there!"

Noah feigned offense. "Yeah? Twenty bucks says I can."

Luke rolled his eyes, which somehow, Noah could discern, even though he wasn't facing the other man. "Noah, don't joke. I'm serious."

"So am I," Noah replied. "And we're both gonna be seriously frozen if you don't hurry up!"

Luke sighed, knowing it was true. Noah would sooner freeze at the bottom of the hill with him then leave there without him. Luke tried to ignore the clench of his heart that knowledge brought. Resigned to cooperating, he grabbed onto Noah's shoulders, and wrapped his legs around Noah's waist.

"Hang on," Noah advised, as if such a reminder was necessary. Truth be told, Noah had no idea if he could get up the incline with Luke on board, but he'd either do it, or die trying. Luckily, fear gave him a surge of adrenaline, and somehow, practically crawling on all fours, Noah finally scaled the steep climb, bringing them back to the waiting truck.

Though reluctant to let go of the warmth of Noah's body, Luke hurriedly dislodged himself to give Noah relief from the weight of him. He stumbled a bit as his feet hit the ground, prompting Noah to swiftly turn, his hands shooting out to steady Luke. Once he'd regained his balance, Luke pulled away, the feel of Noah's hands on his arms somehow too intimate to handle.

"So, I guess I owe you," Luke said quietly. When he saw Noah preparing to argue, Luke quickly moved to lighten the intensity of the moment. "I mean, fair's fair. Twenty bucks, right?"

At first, Noah said nothing, then nodded silently in agreement. He didn't risk saying more. If he'd spoken, he would've said something tremendously stupid that would've made them both extremely uncomfortable. Like, you don't owe me anything, because goddammit Luke, I love you, and would climb down into a live volcano if that's where you were lost.

Yeah, Noah chided himself silently. That wouldn't be awkward much.

Rather than go there, Noah opened the passenger door for Luke. He'd left the truck running to keep it warm. Noah helped Luke into his seat, closing the door once he was safely tucked inside.

Walking around to the driver's side, Noah climbed into the truck. Now he had time to really look Luke over, and what he saw worried him. Despite the heat inside, Luke was still visibly shivering, something that Noah had noticed when carrying him up the hill.

"Here," Noah said. He eased his coat off, placing the dry inside portion over Luke.

"Thanks," Luke replied. The fact that he didn't protest that Noah needed his coat concerned Noah further still. Luke couldn't even deny that he was freezing.

"How long have you been out here?"

Luke mulled the question. "I don't know - what time is it?"

"Ten after 3," Noah answered.

Luke seemed surprised, then calculated for a moment. "Then, six hours, I guess."

Noah started. "SIX HOURS? Luke! You weren't even supposed to arrive 'til 12:30!" Incredibly, Luke had almost made it. They were only about 10 miles away from the farm.

"I got an early start this morning," Luke explained. "I heard it might start snowing, and I wanted to beat the storm."

Noah released a breath, along with a snarky comment to accompany it. "I'd say the storm beat you."

Luke's eyes shot to Noah. The laughter that followed erupted from them both at the same time, and Luke swatted Noah's shoulder. "You're hilarious."

"I try," Noah replied drolly, trying to mask his anxiety. Luke had been stranded in the cold hours longer than Noah had first estimated. "Did you have heat any of that time?"

Luke shook his head. "No - the engine cut out after the car went off the road. I would've called, but I haven't been able to get reception."

Noah wanted to slap himself. He should've called Lily and Holden already, but his apprehension over Luke's ordeal had distracted him. He pulled out his own mobile, but found he was likewise unable to get a signal.

Outside, the storm had already blanketed the truck entirely in snow. "Have you seen anyone go by?"

"No," Luke answered. "I don't think they could've seen me if they did. The car got covered up pretty quickly. Kinda like now," he joked.

"Yeah," Noah answered, deep in thought. "Look, I know we could try to get a little further down the road and get cell reception, but I don't wanna push our luck." He didn't want to scare Luke, but Noah had serious doubts about whether they could make it five feet without sliding off the road. "I've got a full tank of gas, we have heat… oh, and here."

Noah reached towards the cupholder, retrieving a bottled water for Luke. "We have water. I think we're best to sit tight and wait it out."

Luke gratefully accepted the water, and nodded in agreement. "Spinning off the road and down an embankment once is enough for me today, I think," he quipped.

Noah might've wisecracked back, but to his alarm, he noticed that Luke struggled to grasp the bottle, and that his trembling continued. Though he was putting up a brave front, instead of recovering in the warmth of the truck, Luke seemed to be weakening further. Noah knew his next suggestion would meet with resistance, but the truck's heat was on full blast, yet Luke's state wasn't improving.

"You're still cold," Noah began.

"It's all right," Luke answered. "I'll be all right."

His reassurance didn't reassure either of them. Luke knew he shouldn't still be freezing, but he couldn't seem to get warm enough. He hadn't been able to properly feel his feet for awhile, and his fingers weren't much better off. He'd nearly dropped the bottle Noah had given him.

Noah took the bottle back from Luke, opening it for him. He then raised it to Luke's lips, allowing him to drink. When Luke finished, Noah replaced the cap, placing the bottle in a cupholder.

"Listen," Noah continued. "You have to get out of those wet clothes, Luke..."