Title: Nothing Is Ever Simple
Author: FallenAngel
Chapter 1/?
Rating: PG-13
Summery: Noah has been sent by Lucinda to break up Luke and a boyfriend she thinks is "unsutible" for her grandson..
Pairing: Luke/Noah
Word count: ~ 3455
Disclaimer: I don't own anything here except my own words and a handful of original characters. No copyright infringement is intended.
Author's notes: I love feedback

Introduction

Being Noah Mayer wasn't easy. It wasn't even an option when you were Col. Winston Mayer's son. But lying to yourself...trying so hard to be someone you weren't... was something Noah could no longer do.

Fed up with having wasted so many years not being himself, Noah decided to tell his parents he was gay. He was well aware of the consequences of coming out. That kind of lifestyle was totally unacceptable to Col. Mayer. The words "gay" or "homosexual" didn't even exist in his dictionary.

Accordingly, when Noah told dear old dad he was gay, his father's reply was simple and direct.

"Boy you better start running now for the hills!"

That's exactly what the young Mayer did eight years ago at age 18. He hasn't stopped running since.

He may have left home with few possessions. But he took with him some of his psycho dad's best lessons. At his father's knee, he had learned how to cover his tracks; how to change his identity; and basically how to disappear from the face of the earth. He also learned what jobs wouldn't require records leaving a necessary paper trail. That meant being a film director was out the question. There were just some things you had to sacrifice whether you liked it or not.

"Suck it up son," his dad used to say.

The next few years were tough for Noah. But he made out OK becoming very good at picking up jobs here and there. Little did he know that a certain female force of nature known as Lucinda Walsh would come knocking on his door in the middle of the night and change his life forever. It's here that our story begins on a warm summer night in June.

First Chapter ~ Easier Said Than Done

Noah Mayer was very fond of the saying "you can't see the forest for the trees." That's why he had settled on such a hidden location for his home. Even if you were to look through those densely dark trees that surrounded his small cabin, Noah's home was so well hidden that even if you were looking directly at it, you'd never spot it.

A sudden soft knock on the door startled Noah. He got up from the sofa; walked across the small room; and slowly opened the door. On the other side stood an older woman dressed like a page out of Vogue Magazine.

"Good... Evening," Noah said slowly, gripping the door knob tightly. He took a moment to examine the woman more closely. She looked very small standing there in front of him. By pure instinct he knew, if it was necessary, he could take this woman out. Not to mention the fact that she wasn't just an old woman. But an old woman with determination evident in her eyes. As they stood there, he couldn't help but to look just past her shoulder. Just a precaution mind you to make sure there weren't any more surprises about to pop up. Surprises like dear old dad.

"Good Evening" She replied with a smile etched on her lips and a somewhat of a victorious glint in her eyes.

The silence seemed to hang like a thick layer in the air. Noah shifted uncomfortably.

"Hum… Can I help you with something?" Noah offered.

He figured the faster he could get this woman out of his house, the better. If someone had managed to find him, it meant trouble and he needed fix it quickly.

She nodded. "Yes I think you can John or would you prefer. . . Noah?" She asked as she walked past him.

"Come on in," Noah sighed before closing the door slowly. The invitation gave him time to compose himself before turning to face this strange woman, who called him by the name he hadn't used in four years.

"Ho- How do you know my name?"

She walked around the one room before sitting down by a dusty table.

"Oh, I know a lot about you, Noah Mayer, beginning with the fact that you've been hiding for four years from a Winston Mayer. Any relation?" She looked around with a sad smile.

Noah could have sworn he could see pity in her face.

"Do you know how hard it was to find you? It took 10 private detectives working night and day to track you down," She stated, still looking around the room rather than directly at him.

Noah crossed his arms, trying to hold back an irritation growing within him. "I'm touched," he said. "How the hell did they find me? "And why exactly are you here? It must be pretty important since it took a whole squad of detectives to find me."

She leaned forward and another sad look crossed her face for a moment before, what Noah would call, a business face emerged. He had seen it so many times. "I'm here to help you?"

"Help me?" Noah couldn't help but laugh. "You're here to help me? I'm sorry lady. But it's usually the person who hires 10 private detectives to find some guy living in the middle of nowhere, who needs the help." With a grin, he pressed back into his chair and pointed a thumb at his chest. "Not me."

She held up a hand to stop his chatter. "All right, Noah. Yes, I do need your help with something." She reached down into her over-sized Dolce and Gabbana handbag.

"With what exactly?" Noah said, his eyes glued to the bag.

She pulled out a folder and handed it to him. "With this!"

Noah quickly scanned the contents of the folder. It was a dossier actually all about someone named Reg Arrington, who apparently owned an oil company.

"So what's the deal with this guy? If you want me to kill him, you're asking the wrong guy."

She snorted. "Don't be silly… I need you to check him out for me. See if he has had any shady business deals going on perhaps is involved in any kind of of illegal activities. "

"Lady, I'm telling you you've got the wrong guy. I don't play pet detective," Noah said, dropping the folder on the table. "Besides that's not the whole story, is it? You didn't track me down to dig up dirt on some guy because we both know that's not the way I work."

The woman hesitated for a minute. "I can't believe that I'm doing this. But I'm out of options," she muttered more to herself than to Noah. "This Reg person is dating my grandson. Actually it's more than just dating. They engaged to be married soon."

"Aw… How sweet," he interrupted. "Well I don't play best men either."

She shot him an glare before continuing. "When that happens, Reg will become an even richer man than he was before thanks for the inheritance my grandson will receive on his wedding day."

Why is everything always about money?

"How much money are we talking about?" Noah couldn't help to ask. He knew that people such as this woman wouldn't command such a force to track him down unless it was something major and worth mega bucks.

"Let's just say more than a couple of million," She said simply as if it were chump change.

Holy Mother of God… "I still don't get what this has to do with me."

"My gut tells me that this Reg is only doing this relationship for the money. I can't let him get a hold of it. Not at the cost of my grandson's heart." She lean forward, grabbing both of Noah's hands; and starred at him for a moment. "I can promise you that if you succeed, you, Noah Mayer, will be a very wealthy man."

"How wealthy?" He couldn't believe he was asking that! He shouldn't be asking it. This had already gone too far.

"Very wealthy," she said softly. "Besides the money, I can assured you that you and your mother will be well hidden in the Federal Witness Protection Program. So well hidden that Winston Mayer will never find either one of you."

"And what is it that you want in return?"

"I want you to break up Reg and my grandson."

"How?"

"By any means necessary. Get close to my grandson. Make him open his eyes. I don't know. Just do something to ensure a permanent break up."

Not that…

Noah stood up so fast, his chair tipped over.

"Thank you for dropping by whoever you are." He grabbed her arm and started pulling her toward the door. "It was nice to meet you and thanks for the offer. But I'm not interested," he said opening the door and starting to push her out. "Drive carefully...and don't ever contact me again."

"Wait!" She pulled out a business card. "If you should change your mind, please call me." It wasn't hard for Noah to hear the desperation in her voice.

He shook his head. "I don't think so. Good-bye." With that, he shut the door behind her.

Noah leaned against the closed door for a moment. It was always about that. Why couldn't it be something else and not about breaking up a happy couldn't it be him pretending to be someone else's husband? Anything but that.

Noah looked down at the business card she had shoved in his hand.

Lucinda Walsh, CEO, World Wide Industries

"How about that? Another rich person," he mumbled before tossing the card into the trash.

"I'm not doing that again, not after last time." He recalled how much it hurts to lie to people and for what? Money?

His heart couldn't take it, especially when the chances of falling in love were involved. Noah had learned the hard way what happens if you fall in love with a job. It never ended well… at least not for him.

"But think of the money!" he thought. "Think about the witness protection program that would keep Mom safe and far away from him!" His mom lived in fear every day of being abused by the colonel. He could save her with this money. He could give his mom her life back...the life she deserved to live.

"You can't live like this." he debated. "It's killing you even if you won't admit it! You can't stay here forever because of your father! Fight back!"

"Stop it!" he screamed out. As usual, there was no reply only the beating of his heart and the start of a headache.

The sound of a phone ringing interrupted his thoughts. He slowly walked over to the phone and picked up the receiver.

"John," he said.

"Hi honey," a voice whispered on the other end.

Noah almost dropped the phone. "Mom." "Mom…" Noah felt like crying and laughing at the same time. It's so good to hear her voice again.

"How are you?" he whispered. "Please be all right… Please!"

"I'm fine, baby."

"You're lying."

Having to keep their contacts to minimum, Noah had learned to treasure those moments. He knew how to listen to the meaning behind his mother's words, the part that still felt the need to protect him.

"I'm not a child anymore Mom."

"I know sweetie…. I know," she said in a sad voice.

"Did he hurt you?" Noah asked, clutching the receiver so hard to almost breaking it. He hated to ask the question even if he knew the answer. But Noah always hoped that just for one day Winston would leave his mother alone.

"I'll be fine," she tried to reassure her son. "How are you, Sweetie?"

"I'm fine," His thoughts slid back to the conversation with Ms. Walsh. "I was offered a job."

"That's good." He could hear the happiness in her voice.

"No Mom, it's not," Noah said quietly, knowing that he had just crushed his mom's hope of a normal life for her son.

"Is it another Matt situation?"

"Yeah," he whispered, holding the phone closer to his ear; deeply hoping for some kind of comfort by his mother. They both knew what a Matt situation meant. " The offer is still on the table. But I can't say yes even if I want to. I don't think my heart could bear it."

"Then don't accept it, No--... John." She almost slipped. "If you can't do it, then don't. There will be other jobs."

"Not one that pays this good.

"How good?"

"Very good. So good it would solve all our problems," he said. He heard how her breath is hitched when the words sank in. "They are offering witness protection along with a whole lot of money. "

"Sweetie, it's not worth it."

"But this could be what we have been waiting for so long!"

"Not at the cost of your heart," She hissed on the other end. "Not if it's going to break it again. I won't stand for you tormenting yourself for my freedom… I just can't, Sweetie."

"Charlene!" Noah heard his father's loud bellowing voice in the background. "Get down here!"

"He's looking for you, Noah. Please be safe, Sweetie. Please know that whatever you decide to do, I love you." She whispered and hung up.

Noah stared at the phone. He hadn't heard his father's voice for almost five years. And yet, it still sounded as angry and as violent as it had the day he told him he was gay.

"I have to do this for her…"

He walked back to the trash and picked up the card, a ticket to a whole new world for Mom and for him. Noah had done jobs like this before. He knew that he was good at it, too. He knew how charm people; how make them trust him; and then how break them. It was easier when it was just business without getting close to someone; getting to know them. He much rather preferred dealing with the John Does than with the persons whose names he learned.

"I can do this… I know I can…"

Noah turned over the card. As he expected, the name and address of a hotel in the nearby town were written on the back. He grabbed his coat and with a determination he had never felt before, Noah started walking out from deep within the forest and toward town.

It didn't take him long before he found her hotel and her room.

He took a deep breath before knocking on the door. When it opened, he couldn't help to smile just a little bit. This time he was prepared for an late night chat.

"Good Evening, Ms. Walsh."

"Noah! Can I help you with something?"

"Yes, I think you can, Ms. Walsh, or would you prefer Lucinda?" he asked with a small grin.

"I guess that means you've reconsidered my offer?"

"Yes I have." He nodded. "I have only one condition though. You make sure my mother is safe before I take even one step into this whole mess."

She looked at him for a moment. Her face softened.. "That sounds reasonable. Come inside and let me just make a phone call."

Lucinda picked up her cell phone. She soon started talking in a very demanding tone to someone. Noah figured it was one of her subordinates.

"So…" He looked around. "God, she's so rich. Look at this room."

Lucinda concluded her phone call.

"Your grandson...what's his name?" Noah asked.

"Luke," she said with a smile.

"Luke...and where do you people live?" Noah asked as he sat down on the plush sofa.

"Oakdale, Illinois." She sat down beside him.

"So how do we do this? I mean who do you want me to be?"

Her answer surprised Noah. "No one but yourself. We might need you to shave a bit and buy some new clothes. But other than that, I want you to be you."

She stood up to pull a small envelope out of her handbag. "That's one of the reasons why I picked you, Noah. I know you and my grandson have a lot of things in common...more so than you might think."

"Here." Lucinda handed the envelope to her new employee. "You leave for Chicago first thing tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?" this woman doesn't waste time." "And don't worry. I'll take my jet and meet you there," Lucinda added when she saw a bit of panic sweeping across Noah's face. "We'll go through the details then and with that I'll say goodnight. It's been a long day for an old lady like me."

Then she did something else that surprised him. She picked up her bag and coat and walked toward the door. He walked a few steps behind with her. She then offered him a kiss on the cheek and a wish.

"Good Night, Noah. Sweet dreams," She said softly.

"Wait...You're leaving....and I'm staying..." He asked a bit confused. "here?"

"Yes you are. I trust that won't be problem."

"Sleeping in a $200-a-night room? No....No problem at all."

"Good night then," Lucinda repeated and with that she closed the door softly behind her.

"What have I gotten myself into?" He asked himself before drifting off to sleep.

* I love feedback *