Disclaimer: I don't own… ah screw it…

A/N: I'm so sorry!! For taking so long… I apologize, and I hope I haven't lost my readers… College was just so hard… *sob* Ok now I know that some of the readers are going 'What the hell? I'm gonna kill that crazy –insert your word of choice here-' But the story wasn't going to flow if I put everything in one, trust me, I tried for like 4 days straight. I know what I'm doing! Most of the time… So anyway, I broke it up. It's the same story but with a shifted focus, which was why it's separated. Did you really think I'd leave it there? I'm not that cruel. Well, maybe… Thanking my reviewers from the last chapter of Missing! Onaqua, monchy08, ToraChibiChan, Katherine Cruz, Writer-N-Disguise, Unsolved, loveSoapDrama… phew! There's so many… well it has been months… now onward!!

Chapter 1

Killing Time

Noah missed Luke. It was a strange feeling. Until you experience it, you never really understand how you can miss a person who's right in front of you. But Noah missed Luke so much.

In his current disembodied state, he could watch him without interruption. Watch as every hair that fell out of place would be brushed away with irritation. Watch as Luke's nose wrinkled wheneverhe tried not to yawn. Watch as his back curled in whenever he stretched in his chair. He loved it and hated it.

It felt like he was trying to memorise him, and in a way, he was. Luke was going to die. Noah already had two days to be in shock, throw a fit (kind of hard when you can't touch anything), andyell and be depressed about it. But now it was just… Luke was going to die. So he watched him, looking for any sign of something wrong. He looked tired and sad, but healthy. And Charlene refused to tell him anything.

"No, Noah."

"Come on. You wouldn't tell me unless he was going to go before I woke up." She'd said as much before. "Charlene, I know he's not sick, so something's gonna hurt him, right? Is it an accident?"

"Noah," she replied from the window sill. His body had been moved to another room, one more spacious, but he wasn't stable enough to leave the Fairview hospital. Luke was staying in a hotel close by with Holden. Both were sitting in Noah's room now, Holden watching the television and Luke just sitting, absently fiddling with Noah's hospital bracelet. "That is privileged information. And you can't do anything about it anyway so leave it alone. And I really wish you'd call me mom."

"I'm sorry, but I can't just yet. It doesn't feel right. Just tell me ho…" Noah paused. Luke was getting up now.

"Dad, I gotta get…" a yawn cut short his statement. It looked so cute, like a little puppy. This wasn't fair! "I gotta get some coffee. I'm going to the café across the street. The stuff here tastes like sweat… and mud. I'll get you something." With that he was out the door.

Standing in line at the café was not helping to wake Luke up. Knowing Noah was alive and taken care of should have put his mind to rest. But no… if anything, it was working overtime now, and he was dead tired. Why? That damned question. "Will you marry me?" Why couldn't he say yes? He wanted to say yes, but the circumstances… And now Noah was practically comatose and he couldn't even work up the nerve to open the box. Something about seeing the ring would make everything real, and he was afraid. It was with him, burning a hole in his pocket. He hadn't even told his father.

"Welcome to Mellow Moods, what can I get you?" Oh, he was at the counter. When did that happen? He had to stop spacing out like that, before he walked into a pole or something. He looked at menu board, sending silent thanks that it was in moderate English.

"I'll have a, uh… medi-no large non-fat mocha latte, please."

"Dark, white or milk chocolate?"

"Uh, dark."

"To stay or to go?" For some reason, that threw him for a loop. He should just say, 'go', wait for it and get back to the hospital. But he couldn't. What the hell was going on? He knew what was waiting for him there. Shit, it was the question all over again! No, he had to calm down. "Sir?"

"Sorry, I'll stay…" The counter-girl told him to take a seat. Maybe he should've taken the coffee and ran. The little coffee hut was actually pretty busy and there were only two spaces available. One was next to an elderly lady with glasses from 1955 who looked like she had a pink beehive on her head. While Luke wasn't one to judge by looks… Mind made up, he moved to a booth housing a slightly dishevelled young man with pitch black hair who was doodling in a notebook. "Hi. Can I sit here?"

The guy looked up surprised, and nodded. Luke slid into the booth with a small smile and the man went back to his drawing. Waiting for his coffee drink, Luke's eyes wandered about, coming to rest on the man's drawing. It was very good; he could tell what it was even upside down. "Nice Wasp."

"What?" He stopped and looked at Luke, his green eyes curiously guarded. Luke chuckled slightly.

"Your drawing," Luke pointed to the paper, "Wasp, Janet van Dyne, right?"

"Oh, yeah," he smiled. "You know th-the Avengers?" At that moment, the waitress brought Luke's latte over and made to go, but not before giving the other man a sort of disgusted look. 'What was that about?' Luke wondered, but it wasn't his business. The man seemed to shrink back into himself after she left. Luke quietly sipped at his drink, conversation lost until the man spoke again. "Don't you wanna ask about that?"

Luke shrugged. "Not really. It's not my place, and I can't base any opinion I have of you on how others act." He'd learned that the hard way when he came out. Persons who he knew for most of his life suddenly wanted nothing to do with him. And he found better friends in those he wouldn't have ever noticed before. "Besides, you seem alright so far." The man eyes brightened more than they had when Luke mentioned the comic book and he stuck out his hand.

"Thanks. I'm Sh-shawn by the way." Luke shook the proffered hand.

"I'm Luke. Now," he tapped the book. "Avengers…"

"Is it… is it today? That's why you're not telling me, right? It's today?" Noah was freaking out at the thought. Charlene was just smiling at him. Did she think his head exploding was funny? Because it wasn't.

"Take it easy, kiddo." Charlene took his face between her hands softly. "You've been asking ever since you found out and you're going to give yourself a heart attack. It's not today!" She added quickly seeing that he was about to yell. A sigh escaped. "I was trying to protect you. If you must know, it's the day you wake up." That didn't make him feel better at all. Knowing that if he woke up one or two days earlier, he might get a chance to talk to Luke…

"Can you at least tell me how he…?"

"I'm sorry. Now, no more questions. I want to hear more about you growing up. We were at… you were a 'freshman at high school in Georgia'…" Noah had to give her credit. She could pull off a mother's no-nonsense voice perfectly.

Taking a breath he didn't need, he began, "Winston got transferred to California in the middle of the second semester…"

Luke glanced at his watch, shifting his weight from one foot to the next in the hospital elevator. Shawn proved to be an interesting person and he knew his comics, maybe better than Luke did. While it had been nice talking to someone who didn't know who he was, or what he was going through, hewanted to get back to his Noah. Just in case. But Shawn made Luke promise to come back tomorrow and Luke wasn't entirely opposed to the idea. The elevator came to a stop and Luke got off, taking a few steps down the hallway.

"Look out!" Luke didn't have time to move as something barrelled into him, knocking him off his feet and sending the coffee had gotten for his father, flying. He lay on the cold tile floor, watching the florescent lights in a daze until a nurse came and helped him sit up.

"You know…" A boy, no older than five or six, stood before them in hospital scrubs. He had a tie-dyed bandana covering his head and a large bandage housing two closed IV ports on his wrist. There was a large smirk on his face as he spoke, "You gotta watch where you're going. I coulda hurt you."

"Jesse," The nurse chided, helping Luke to stand. She seemed familiar. "What have I told you about running?"

Pretending to think for a moment, Jesse answered, "To not do it?"

"Exactly." She turned to Luke, who was looking forlornly at the spilled coffee. "I'm sorry, Sir. He didn't mean anything by it and he's very sorry, aren't you Jesse?"

Jesse turned and stared into Luke's eyes, searching for something. They were a bit unnerving, those piercing grey irises. "My mommy says to say sorry only when you really feel bad about doing something. I don't feel sorry for hitting you."

"Jesse!"

"I don't! It's the truth. He should pay more attention."

"It's ok, Miss." Luke spoke for the first time. "No harm done. He's only saying what he thinks." He bent down to Jesse's level. "Hey, my name is Luke. I'm sorry for holding you up. Forgive me?" Luke put out his fist and Jesse bumped it, grinning. "I'll see you around, Jesse." Rising, he began to walk down the hall again.

"You're on the wrong floor, y'know." Luke stopped, glanced at Jesse and took a look around. 'He's right…' He turned to Jesse in confusion.

"How did you…?" Jesse pointed to the ceiling.

"He's waiting for you up there. But not for long…" With that he took off running again, the nurse not far behind. Luke was left standing in shock.

"Hey, I thought you'd bring something for me?" Holden asked from across the room. All conversation between the spectres stopped when Luke entered. Luke didn't respond; he simply walked over to the chair. Noah could see that something had upset Luke, and he moved to stand beside him as he sat down. He wanted to comfort him, hold his hand, do something! But instead he was this useless lump on the mattress. It was very frustrating.

Jesse's words were ringing in Luke's ears. 'But not for long…' He couldn't understand it. In four words, a child managed to express all of his greatest fears. He felt like such a coward. 'What a weird morning…' He ran a hand down his face tiredly.

"You okay, Luke?" Holden asked again. He didn't like when Luke was quiet. It usually heralded some insane act of rescue, but Luke only raised his hand to gently caress Noah's cheek. The backs of his fingers barely touched Noah, making the spirit shiver. "Luke, what's wrong?"

"Everything, Dad. Everything…"

A/N YasuJ: First chapter complete. Beep… Beep… Second chapter processing…

Luke: Um… *looks at Noah*

Noah:* looks at Luke* Well, I don't know!

Luke: Uh… Read and review… please? *looks at Yasu* …hurry?