They lay asleep on their sides, noses just inches apart, and that was how Luke first saw him when he opened his eyes. It was so breathtaking that for minutes he held still, afraid that Noah might move position in his sleep, just content to lie and stare at him. By some miracle there had been just two episodes of night terror, and Luke had been able to calm him reasonably quickly with both. So now Noah looked a lot more rested, in fact he looked peaceful.

Finally, unable to resist it, Luke used his nose to trace a pattern over Noah's face. Nuzzling at his cheek, his eyes, his forehead, his nose. This roused Noah and, as Luke's path crossed his lips, they closed over the tip and sleepily sought out Luke's contours until they found the wet warmth of his mouth. At the same time Luke felt as Noah's hands run up his sides, under his shirt and over his back causing him to pull back, his face creased with concern.

It was a small movement but it was enough for Noah to notice and, reading his expression, to look suddenly crestfallen, "Don't do that Luke, please don't do that…"

"What?" he asked softly.

"Don't treat me differently. Not like this! Especially not like this!"

"I just…"

"I don't want you to be afraid to touch me. I can deal with what happened, but I can't deal with that…"

Luke nodded and moved in close to Noah, bringing his hand up to cup the back of his neck and kissing him fully on the mouth, his tongue pushing intensely towards the back of his throat in reassurance.

"It's Sunday…" Noah whispered as Luke came up briefly for air.

"Yes it is, and what do you want to do today?"

Noah's mouth was beside his ear, and the cavity filled with hot breath as he said, "I want you to touch me." And he stroked Luke's hair with both hands, smoothing the curls off his forehead.

Luke kissed the tip of his ear, then moved lower to draw the earlobe into his mouth twitching it with his tongue as he rolled over to lie above Noah's waiting body. His kisses followed the angles of Noah's jaw and under his chin, shadowed with sprouting stubble, to find the Adam's apple that moved as Noah swallowed from anticipation. As he kissed, his hand explored the shape of Noah's face and neck, his thumb rubbing up and down, following the pulse beat in his neck.

Finally Luke lifted himself off Noah and said, "Come, take this off…" and he pulled at Noah's white t-shirt, his favourite for sleeping in. Noah sat up in the bed so that he could pull the shirt off his head and throw it aside. "Lie down…" And, leaning up on one shoulder Luke reached out to touch Noah's chest. He could see the goose bumps ripple over his skin, and Noah shivered slightly as Luke drew a fingertip in a gentle circle round one nipple before tweaking it between two fingers. He ducked his head down and allowed his tongue to dart lightly over the other nipple and he was rewarded by a sharp intake of breath from his lover, whose left arm pressed slowly down Luke's back, making the tiny hairs at the base of his neck prickled with pleasure.

Finished his ministrations of the nipple, Luke continued his kisses in a downward course, stopping at Noah's navel. He savoured the feeling as Noah quivered under his tongue while at the same time making small and low guttural noises that left Luke almost weak with desire.

Maintaining the contact with his mouth, he sat on his knees to give himself the leverage to remove Noah's underwear and, as he did so, he licked quickly from the start of the pubic bone back up to the navel; then blew softly along the path of spittle hearing as Noah's breathing intensified. Luke manoeuvred himself between Noah's legs, and held them open by lying across one while pressing the other thigh with his hand. He spent a few minutes studying Noah's form, hard and ready for him, blowing on it, kissing around it, pressing his lips into the soft skin of Noah's inner thighs and breathing in the scent of him. Finally as his mouth took all of him, Noah arched his back, moaning loudly and reaching over to press his fingers into Luke's skull, encouraging the movement of Luke's head, almost directing him to the points of highest pleasure. After just a few moments Noah was left utterly weakened and panting as Luke rested his chin lightly on his pubic bone, staring adoringly up the length of him.

Noah continued to stroke the now sweat-drenched hair away from Luke's face and Luke turned his head to grab one hand and kiss his palm. Noah took him by both shoulders, urging him gently up and across the expanse of his naked flesh then, when he was high enough, pushing Luke's underwear down and cupping him; making it clear what he wanted.

Luke must have had worry written on his features because Noah took both cheeks in his hands and nodded with full eye contact, the blue in his eyes rich with desire, giving Luke the confidence he needed to ready him before lowering himself down into him, his own flesh heated with passion. And Luke fought with himself to stay controlled, so that he could move slowly, holding things back in a steady rhythm, reading the want in each other's eyes as they fixed their stare right up until Luke eventually sank down with a whimper, burnt and limbless, throbbing inside of him.

And just before they both nodded off Noah whispered, "Thank you."

...

Jonathan had started to snore softly in the seat next to her as she drove and she smiled over at him. He could really be so cute without even trying. His head leaned sideways against the windowpane and his mouth gaped open. His long mop of ginger curls messy around his shoulders. What a sweetheart!

Senseless the night before, Maddie had wanted to drive immediately to Los Angeles, but Jonathan had managed to convince her that it would be best they both had a good night's sleep, before attempting the long drive south. He knew that they would have to share the driving, and Maddie was in no state to do so safely. Reluctantly she had agreed.

Now after driving for hours she knew how right he had been. She had managed to get some sleep but her night had been restless, her heart broken for Noah. She still couldn't believe it! And to think he had been carrying the memories around for months, without even realising it! She didn't think she would ever forget the pain she had heard in Luke's voice.

As she came around a sharp bend in the road, she was forced to slow and finally to stop as the entire motorway clogged up with trucks and cars. The whole motorway was at a standstill.

"What the…" She whispered to herself. No please no! Not now! "Jonathan! Jonathan! Wake up!" She leaned over and shook his shoulder.

"Mmm?" he asked and then seemed to notice that the car wasn't moving and opened his eyes. "Damn!"

"I can't believe it! What do you think it is?" Just then she spotted a police man walking up the emergency lane. Quickly she wound down the window to call him over, "Officer! Officer!" and as he walked over and leaned on the roof of their car she asked, "Could you tell us what's going on please?"

"I'm afraid there's a pileup about 8 miles up the road. It's a bad one!"

"How long will we have to wait?" She could feel her heart sinking…

"I'm sorry miss but it's going to be a few hours at least." As he walked away she looked over sadly at Jonathan, who shook his head in sympathy for her.

...

Monday morning arrived and Luke spent the first hour trying to convince Noah to stay at home. When that failed he spent another hour insisting on accompanying Noah to work. But Noah was adamant! Oliver had taken something that didn't belong to him and Noah was damned if he was going to allow what happened to disrupt their life. He and Luke would both go to work as normal, and that was that!

Despite what Luke thought, Noah was not afraid of Oliver, all he felt was disgust and betrayal. He had treated Oliver as a friend, he had trusted him, and Oliver had taken that trust and twisted it in the worst way possible.

As he walked into work that morning, staff greeting him with smiles and thanking him for the amazing party, his eyes immediately fell on Oliver, standing in his usual position by the coffee machine, entertaining the surrounding people with tales of his weekend accomplishments. Noah's stomach tightened as he thought of the many times he had stood and laughed at Oliver's stories, not knowing then exactly how Oliver managed to be so popular amongst the male population of Los Angeles.

He stopped dead in front of the group and waited for Oliver to notice him.

"Noah!" He said excitedly and as he lifted an arm to pat Noah's shoulder, Noah took a marked step back. Oliver and the surrounding people looked at each other in surprise.

"Oliver," Noah said with authority, "I need to see you in my office."

A quizzical expression crossed Oliver's face.

"Now, please!" And Noah made it clear from his tone that he expected Oliver to follow him.

As they entered Noah's office Oliver said, "Can I help you with something?"

And Noah almost visibly blanched at the audacity of the guy. "I want you to collect your belongings and leave my set."

"What?" Asked Oliver, astonished, "Why?"

"You… know… why…" Noah said the words clearly, enunciating each one, making sure that Oliver understood him.

"Oh," he said, realisation dawning on his face, "I see…"

Noah was horrified when Oliver's reaction was to smile with pleasure. And he came to the sickening realisation that Oliver was glad… he was glad that Noah remembered… he was glad that Noah knew.

Noah said nothing more and Oliver, still smiling, turned and left him there… standing, panting, in the centre of his office.

Noah tried to keep his breathing steady by drawing the air in and out through his nose. He watched weak kneed from his doorway as Oliver collected a box, cleared all the contents from his desk, and headed for the exit. People around him kept asking what had happened and where he was going, but he said nothing to them.

Just as he reached the main exit, two uniformed police officers entered and Noah drew a quick intake of breath. Melanie strolled up to them and as she spoke to them she turned and pointed Oliver out. Oliver twisted his head to glare directly at Noah, and the look he had in his eyes, almost caused Noah to stagger. But Noah held firm as the officers said something to Oliver and finally escorted him out of the building.

All eyes were on Noah. He looked sadly around the room at his shocked staff, before closing the office door on them. He walked over to his desk and then suddenly had to lean forward and steady himself against it. Shakily he took his phone out of his jacket pocket and pressed the speed dial, "Luke? The police have taken him in."

...

As he left the police station after explaining that yes, he had slept with Noah Mayor and that yes, it was consensual, and that if they didn't believe him, to try and prove otherwise (which of course he knew they couldn't), he could barely contain his excitement. By turning him in, Noah had given him all the will power he needed to finally put his plan into action. And the extra challenge of this Luke just made the whole expedition all the more delighting.

...

As Luke hung up the phone the anger was threatening to consume him. He tore it from the wall socket and flung it with all his strength across the room where it shattered against the wall just inches from Noah's head as he walked through the front door.

"FUCK!" Luke screamed and then stood stock still when he realised how close he had come to hitting Noah. "Oh my god!"

"What the hell, Luke?"

"I'm sorry… I'm so sorry it's just… God I want to kill him!"

Noah sighed, "Luke, the police are dealing with him…"

"No, Noah. No they're not. The whole day! The whole day they kept us there, asking you question after question and then they let that bastard go after just three hours?"

"Oh."

"Oh? That's it?"

"Luke we've done all we can…"

"Well I haven't! I'm not going to just stand by and let this happen! That guy is going down if it's the last thing I do!" He started marching around, lifting papers and books on the table and opening cupboards and drawers.

"Luke…"

"Where's my laptop?"

"Luke!"

"Have you seen it?" And he continued his hasty search of the room. "I'll check the internet. There will be information on there."

"Luke please! Please just stop! Okay? Please…!"

And Luke froze to look at him.

"I'm alright." Noah said. "I can deal with this. I hate it and it's not easy… but I can deal with it. I'm okay. So why… why aren't you?"

This question seemed to shock Luke for a moment, as though he hadn't considered it before. Then the tears began again and he shook his head, "Because it's all my fault! I should have been here! Why wasn't I here? I shouldn't have stayed away so long…" And he bit his lower lips in an attempt to stop yet more tears from falling.

Noah walked over and grabbed him, pulling Luke's head into his shoulder, strong emotions dragging at every part of him, "Hey… hey…" releasing his hand so that Luke could lift his head back as he said, "Look at me… Look at me Luke…" and as Luke looked up, cupping his chin, "You stayed away for as long as you needed to and I waited for you for as long as you needed me too. And that was right, Luke! It was the right thing! For both of us! And I won't have you blame yourself for this! You hear me?" He grabbed Luke's face in his hands and pulled their foreheads together as he whispered… "The only person to blame here… is Oliver!"

Then, looking to the side briefly, getting an idea, Noah pulled Luke across the room, stopping briefly to dim the light switch, before leaning over to press play on the nearby hi-fi system. He closed around Luke so that they could dance slowly together, Luke closing his eyes and resting his head on Noah's shoulder, wrapped up in each other's arms.

...

His body radiated excitement at the prospect of the night. He knew he was taking a risk. He had never gone for two at once before but he wasn't afraid… he was thrilled and he drank in the adrenaline, thriving on it.

Oliver always marvelled at his own levels of patients. He could always wait if he had to; in fact the waiting was part of the buzz, part of the hunt. So he stood in the darkness of a tree, watching them through the window as they danced together. How touching!

He watched as they kissed and as those kisses grew heavier and he watched as Luke drew Noah over to the couch, where they lay together. He watched as the soft petting become more intense, hands explored more intimately and he watched as Noah led Luke ahead of him, towards the back of the house, holding back his hair and kissing the side of his neck along the way.

This was the moment. He used his key slowly in the lock, making sure to keep the click nice and soft and he opened the door with care, closing it silently behind him. Stealthily he followed the unmistakable sounds of love making and he stood in the shadows of the passage… he stood and watched them, licking his lips.

Yes, Oliver was patient… he would wait his turn.