Luke lay over the bottom half of Noah's naked body, his cheek pressed into the small of his back, his left arm on one shoulder blade while the right stretched higher to rest on Noah's right bicep.

"Noah?" he said softly, tickling his skin.

"Hmm?"

"Are you awake?"

"No… mmph"

Luke smiled, "You can't sleep yet, we have to pack… Car's picking us up early tomorrow…"

Silence.

Luke crawled further up the lean body to rest his cheek against Noah's , "Baby?" he sang.

Sill nothing but the soft breaths of sleep. Luke lay listening to them for a while, enjoying the feel of Noah's back as it rose and fell against his chest, and then he turned his head to place a light kiss on Noah's lips causing him to make a few sucking sounds before he smiled slightly. Luke blew softly at the wisps of black hair framing his face.

"Wake up Noah!" Luke teased, pressing his cheek into the pillow by Noah's head.

"Hey…" Noah muttered as he opened his eyes.

"How do you feel?"

"Great… like I'm floating… you make me feel like I'm floating…" Luke laughed softly and Noah's right hand came up to stroke his face as his blue eyes studied him. "God I missed this…"

"What?"

"When I was blind? I missed your face… the way your forehead crinkles up when you concentrate… the way you frown at me when you don't get your own way… and your smile… god but I missed your smile… and it was like…" he suddenly looked sad as he remembered.

"Noah?" Luke frowned, rubbing his toes up and down one of Noah's feet.

"The longer things stayed dark, the more things faded… you know? And I would try to hold onto this image?" He spoke softly as he stroked his thumb over Luke's eyebrow as Luke watched him intently, "But it was fading… and it was like… like I was forgetting… and I was terrified to forget! I didn't want to forget… not ever!"

"I'm sorry baby. I'm sorry you had to go through that." His eyes were suddenly wet with unshed tears.

"No Luke! Sorry… I didn't mean to upset you… I just want you to understand. Sometimes I remember how it felt, you know? And then at moments like these…" and his smile sparkled, "It's just amazing! When I open my eyes to your face and I can SEE you… I want you to really know what that means to me… how much I love you…"

Luke nodded, smiled and kissed him deeply for a long time before coming back to his senses and saying, "I love you too…" and they lay in each other's company for a few more minutes before Luke said, "Come on! We need to pack before you fall asleep again…"

"Okay…" and as Luke rolled off him, he got up to sleepily pull on his boxers and grab a bag from the cupboard.

"Are you sure about this Noah?" he asked, as he rose up on his elbow and rested his head on his hand, watching him.

"Luke, Maddie's holding back on something… and if that guys hurting her in any way… then I need to make sure it stops. I mean you saw that bruise!"

"I just… don't you think Jonathan would have done something by now? He really seems to look out for her… "

"I know… I did wonder that, but the guy's his father… I mean… maybe he can't stand up to him? If there's one person who knows what that's like, it's me! I would just feel better if we checked this out for ourselves.

"Yes, okay, you're right." And he jumped up to help with the packing.

...

Bruce came up from behind her, hooking one hand around her waist whilst handing her a cup of coffee with the other. As she took the cup he kissed the nape of her neck… "Mmm, you smell nice!"

"Thank you." And she turned to give him a quick kiss on the lips. She could feel Jonathan's eyes burning into them from across the room.

"Sorry I have to leave so early today, but I want to get there in good time for my interview…"

"You'll be great!"

"Thanks darling." And he pulled her into a kiss that went on longer than she would have liked with Jonathan standing just metres away…

"Maddie?" Jonathan's strangled voice pierced through her as she stood in the crook of his father's arm. "Um, can I show you something in the kitchen? I just need your opinion…" His tone was so strained… so desperate that she was surprised Bruce didn't notice it as he pulled out of the kiss.

She looked up at Jonathan nervously and then turned to Bruce who by now was making his way to the door, "You two carry on… I'll see you in a few hours!"

"Bye." She barely got the word out before the door closed. Leaving her alone… with him…

"I'm jealous when you're with him…" That voice from somewhere behind her, sending shivers down her spine, making her want to cry out in frustration and at the same time…

"Don't do this to me Jonathan! I can't cope with it!"

"I can't help it! Maddie, I don't know a lot of things… I'm the clumsiest most stupid person in the world most of the time… but I know THIS… I love you!"

"Stop…" He quickly manoeuvred in front of her, grabbing the tops of her arms as she tried to reach the bedroom door, "I loved you from the moment I first saw you on that platform… " She looked slowly up at him, her eyes pleading… "Do you want to know what else I'm sure of?"

She shook her head, "Please don't… please…"

"You love me too…"

"I'm married to your father, I love him… I can't do this to him…" but even as she said the words his hands were burning through the sleeves of her dress and the compulsion to lift her head up and kiss those lips… so close… so near to her own, was almost more powerful then she could control.

"You want it too… don't you? You're afraid we'll give in…"

Without conviction she whispered, "I think it's time for you to leave..."

"Maddie…"

"We've been through this over an over… We can't let it happen!" she tried to wriggle out of his tight grasp, but he wasn't giving in this time. She could feel the determination radiating off him.

"Kiss me…" His emerald eyes burned into her… THOSE green eyes! The same eyes he shared with his father. The same eyes, she had come to realise with dread, which must have attracted her to Bruce in the first place.

"No!"

"Kiss me!"

Against her will her lips touched his with a warmth, a fire she hadn't felt since that night in the train.

And she was his…

...

Once the cab driver confirmed that they were only ten minutes from Maddie's address, Noah pulled out his phone to warn her of their arrival. They hadn't told her they were coming in the hopes of catching her off guard and maybe finding out the truth about her life with Bruce.

The phone seemed to ring for a long time.

"No answer?" Luke asked him.

Noah shrugged and was just about to hang up when he heard Maddie's voice say, "Hello?" She sounded alarmed, panicky.

"Maddie! Hi, it's Noah…" In the background he could hear the distinct sound of glass breaking and he thought he heard a man say something.

"Um… it's not really a good time right now… Hang on a second…"

"Maddie?"

Luke gave Noah a questioning look and Noah returned his stare with one of worry before he heard a tap on the other line, as though the phone had been placed down somewhere, "Maddie!"

Suddenly he heard her urgent and fearful voice say, "Bruce! Stop! Stop!" and Noah could hear an angry male voice yelling something at her.

Before the phone cut off he heard Maddie scream…

"Oh my god!"

"Noah? What is it?" Luke grabbed Noah's knee at the look of shock on his face.

"Can you go faster please?" Noah asked the cab driver leaning forward over the seat in front, "It's an emergency! I think our friend's in trouble!"

...

He couldn't believe that after making all the effort to get up extra early for the interview, he'd gotten half way there to discover he had forgotten all his papers behind! He was irritated with himself, but at the same time he couldn't help smiling, realising it was because he had been so caught up with Maddie that morning. God but she was a stunner!

As he unlocked and opened the door he called, "Maddie? You wouldn't believe it but I forgot…" and the words stuck instantly in his throat as he spotted them…

"Maddie…" Her name flew breathless from his lips. The love he had for her, always brightly written on his features, now shone out with despair… his world suddenly completely shaken. They were always meant to be together… they belonged together… Right?

He stood utterly disarmed and helpless. He was losing her… The scene in front of him confirmed that… The way she looked at his son… HIS SON, who lay partly naked with her on the carpet of THEIR apartment, touching her, KISSING her…

He felt his heart explode with pain and, not able to look anymore, he turned and blindly fled out the door, his peripheral vision just catching sight of Maddie stumbling to get up and calling his name in agony, "BRUCE!"

...

The elevator to the 10th floor of Maddie's apartment building was agonisingly slow… Four eyes, two brown, two blue, watched anxiously as each number lit up on the panel. Both had no idea what was happening or what to expect when they finally made it to their destination, they just knew that Maddie needed them and they restlessly shifted weight impatiently from left to right foot.

Noah was the first through the metal doors, pulling them open as though that would somehow make them move faster. He bolted out and quickly read the arrowed numbers on the wall to know which direction to run in. Luke followed hot on his heels.

The closer they got to the apartment, the louder the screams from within.

"Maddie?" Luke yelled.

"Maddie? Noah banged desperately on the door. "Maddie! Open up!"

"Bruce! You're hurting me! Please!" she sobbed from within.

Without a pause Noah backed up and flung himself at the apartment door. It budged but didn't open and so he tried again and again until the lock snapped and he fell into the room. Quickly clambering back on his feet, he spotted Maddie on the floor in the corner, her elbow covering her face while a large man loomed over her throwing blow after blow of punches.

"Son of a bitch!" Noah yelled, storming across the room, consumed in anger that this man dare lay his hands on Maddie. He threw an arm around the older man's neck and dug his hands hard into the man's skin, pulling his arm around his back and yanking him off the cowering and shivering Maddie.

Luke was instantly on the floor, trying to pull Maddie away from the fury Noah was venting, but she held out both her arms towards them, trying to get to them and screamed, "No! Noah, stop! Stop!"

After chocking the man almost senseless, knocking over chairs and tables, smashing vases and lamps, Noah turned him around and pushed him hard into the wall so that he dropped like a sack. He barely had time to recover before Noah was pounding a fist into his head, "How do you like it? Hey?"

"Noah! He doesn't understand…" Maddie continued to yell desperately and as Luke looked up towards the cowering man it became clear to him that something was off. The man lay without fighting back, in the foetal position, moaning like a wounded animal. "He doesn't understand…" she cried again, her voice cracking, prompting Luke to quickly race forward and pull Noah off.

The larger man lost his balance and fell back into Luke so that the two of them ended up entangled on the floor and Luke had to wrap both his arms around Noah's upper body, entrapping his arms, to calm him and keep him from raging forward again. He spoke from behind into Noah's ear, "Stop! He's down… He's down…"

And they both watched astonished as Maddie ran over to the man's side, tears streaming down her face, and placed her hand on his shoulder, "Its okay baby… Its okay…" she spoke as if to a small child and when the man looked up his face was wet and snot ran from his nose. He mumbled something unintelligible to her and she stroked his head. "I know he did sweetheart… I'm so sorry… Forgive me?" The man's eyes were huge with fear but he flung his arms around her and sobbed into her breast. "Okay…" she placated, "Okay…"

...

He didn't know where he was driving… he just had to keep moving… just keep moving and keep his tormented mind off the scene he had witnessed. How long? How long had it been going on? Jonathan had only been in town for a few days! How could it have happened? He was sure when he married her that she loved him and only him. So how could she betray him so easily? How could both of them betray him?

He had been a fool! He had been a fool to think he could hold onto such a light! Such a young, beautiful, sweet light!

He pressed his foot to the peddle the moment he hit the motorway, the speed helped… helped him escape… Tears poured from his face and he gulped in air as he tried to breathe, his entire life left in crumbles.

A sudden explosion of agony blew him somewhere between unconsciousness and reality and he felt his stomach heave as his head crushed against the spinning steering wheel. Glass shattered from all directions and cut at his skin, his lungs bursting as he tried to draw in little gasps of cold air. Metal, dirt, glass and debris rolled and rolled for what felt like an eternity and then a gigantic splash heralded the water and his blurred vision just managed to make out the oily surface, now rising above the level of the window, before quickly covering his head.

...

"It happened more than a year ago now…" Maddie sighed, "Sometimes he can get a little rough when he's frustrated, but he doesn't mean to hurt anybody."

"Brain damage!" Noah repeated for the umpteenth time, not believing the terrible situation Maddie had found herself it. It was tragic beyond belief and his heart went out to her.

During their conversation Bruce had spent the time entertaining himself, first with a bag of chips and finally finding fascination in a wicker basket full of toys. He was obviously completely oblivious to the subject of their conversation and had long since forgotten the events of the previous hour.

"Jonathan did try to find me," Maddie continued as she played with a wet tissue in her hands, her eyes red from crying, "but two days after we met on the train he got called to Italy..."

"Italy?" Both men said at once.

"His mother lived there. She died and he had to go… to make arrangements…"

They looked at her sympathetically.

"And during that time I fell for Bruce. I realise now that I fell for Bruce because of the part of him that was Jonathan! And then when Jonathan arrived…" she looked down ashamed. "It was him! It was always him! I had substituted him for his father!" And she sniffed through her tears.

"Maddie you couldn't have known. It's not your fault…" And Luke sat next to her to place a kiss on her temple and put his arm around her. Almost instantly Noah saw some of the tension on her face fade, and he marvelled once again at Luke's amazing ability to make people feel better with just a word and a touch. It was something in his gentle nature, in the tone of his voice and the brightness of his face.

"Sometimes it gets too much, you know? So that's why I spent so much time visiting you guys, apart from the fact that you needed me to. It was a way to forget for a little while. Jonathan has been pressing me to move on. But… I can't… I just can't! It's all our fault… that Bruce is the way he is now… we destroyed his life! What right do we have to a life of our own?"

"Maddie," Noah said kindly, leaning forward from the coffee table he was seated on to take both her hands in his, "take it from two people who know what it means to waste time blaming each other for an accident that was nobody's fault…." And his eyes fell on Luke, who smiled at him, before returning to Maddie "Bruce loves you! And from all accounts he also loves his son…"

"He would want the two of you to be happy, instead of wasting your lives because of some misguided sense of obligation." Luke finished.

She stared across the room at Bruce as he played happily with a bag of marbles, she seemed to be musing their words over in her head… giving them careful consideration.

"Think about it sweetheart," Noah added, "Would Bruce… with the way he is now… be any worse off if you were to start a relationship with Jonathan?"

And it was at that point that Jonathan arrived home, surprised by the sight of Luke and Noah and the dishevelled apartment. He didn't make a move to enter, but rather stood in the frame of the door, dumbstruck. "Everything okay?" he asked with trepidation.

As Maddie stood up to cross the room, Noah took her place by Luke's side and they put their arms around each other smiling knowingly.

Reaching Jonathan Maddie said, "Everything's great!" and she smiled her most dazzling smile at him, "Everything's suddenly perfect!" and to his utter shock, she took his face in her hands and kissed him for all the world like it was the last kiss of her life. His arms instantly, instinctively embraced her and he too suddenly felt that all was perfect!

"You know you're kinda sexy when you're in rescue mode?" Luke whispered over to Noah as they watched the young couple.

"And you're kinda sexy when you're in comforting mode…" Noah countered.

"Suddenly I feel like it's time for us to go home…"

Noah squeezed his hand smiling, "Same here…"