They didn't talk much that night either. It was clear to Luke that Noah was still deep in thought. But all that mattered to Luke was that he was there. He hadn't run off and to Luke's amazement he wasn't asking for space, just for time to sort through his feelings. Luke could give him that. Luke could give him all the time he needed, so long as Noah was right there with him.

After checking in on Nicholas, Noah climbed under the covers beside Luke, immediately filling the icy sheets with warmth. He lay flat on his back, one hand under his head, staring with contemplation at the ceiling. Luke turned his head and studied him for a moment and then leaned over to turn off the lamp. Not wanting to intrude on him, Luke curled in a ball facing away, giving Noah his space even though he hadn't asked for it. Not expecting it, he felt Noah's arms wrap over him and his hand rest on his chest. And then Noah's body pressed up against Luke's back and Luke lay awake, barely breathing, afraid Noah would move away if he did. He stayed awake until he heard the quiet telltale snores and then he cried silently, periodically kissing Noah's knuckles after taking Noah's hand in his. The tears were not from sadness though; instead they were from his sheer contentment, so grateful to have this amazing person in his life again.

They would be fine.

From now on they would be fine no matter what came their way.

...

When Luke opened his eyes that morning the first thing he saw was the clock by the bed.

"Shit!" he whispered. The display read 10:00.

"Looks like we slept in…"

Luke rolled over towards the voice and smiled at Noah's face lying deep within the imprint on his pillow.

Noah yawned and returned the smile, gently running a finger along Luke's fringe. Then, his expression suddenly more serious, he said "I'm sorry."

Luke frowned, "You're sorry? For what?"

"I'm sorry I made you feel that way. It scares me to think… That you felt like you wanted to die… Because I hurt you…"

"Oh! No Noah! Please! I was the idiot okay? I'm the one who screwed up! I put myself through all that! If I had just followed you to LA sooner, then none of that would even have happened. Right?"

Noah nodded. "Right… Because I WAS waiting for you… Of course I was…"

Luke smiled and then moved tentatively forward for a kiss. He hesitated, not sure if he was pushing Noah further than he was ready to go, but to his joy Noah completed the gesture and their tongues were quickly linking together, so much so that Luke began to lose himself, he realised something and he pulled back, "Wait! Something's going on here!"

Noah frowned at him, "I was kinda hoping something was…"

"No!" Luke laughed, "Not that! I MEAN it's ten AM! Isn't there somebody missing?"

Noah laughed. "He's with Holden. I heard his voice this morning and when I looked out the window they were chopping wood outside."

"Oh I LOVE that man! I guess he must have read the expressions on our faces when we came home last night."

"Yeah. He must have got to Nicky before Nicky got to us!"

Luke was grateful. After all the emotion of the evening they had really needed their sleep and he had to admit he felt a whole lot better for it.

"You are okay right? About Troy and the drinking and everything?" He had to ask. He had to know Noah was coping.

Noah's response was to roll over on top of him, "I hate that you were drinking again! And," he closed his eyes and pursed his lips for just a second, "the thought of you with this other guy… just… I'm not going to lie, okay? That hurts! But… but we weren't together, so I can hardly hold it against you, right?" He shifted even closer into Luke's body and smoothed Luke's hair back with both hands, "Last night, all that time that I sat on that bench, all I could think about was how the hell I was going to let you go."

"Oh baby."

"So now I'm just relieved because… Luke I told you! I need you in my life and I'm going to do whatever it takes to make that happen. As long as that's what you want also."

"I do! You know I do!"

"I'm not going to loose you just because of my stupid pride or hang ups! Like I said when we started this thing in LA, we are going to deal with these things, even when it's hard. I just want to be with you… That's all that matters…"

"I just want to be with you too…" Luke stroked his hands down Noah's back and then decided he wanted to feel some skin so he slipped them under the bottom of his shirt, running his hands from Noah's belly to his chest and then wrapping them all the way under his arms and around to the smooth shoulder blades.

"How long do you think we have?" Noah asked; his eyes suddenly that royal blue that usually indicated his desire level.

Luke was just about to answer when they heard the undeniable pitter-patter of tiny feet growing louder as they made their way along the wooden floorboards of the passage.

"Not long by the sounds of things!" Luke laughed.

"Later then?" Noah asked quickly, "I need this. I think we both do." Luke nodded.

Nicholas burst through the door, his face flushed red from his run up the yard and through the house, "LUKE! NOAH!" and Noah rolled off Luke just in time for Nicholas to bounce between them on the bed.

"Hey baby!" Noah greeted him.

The small child smelled of the outdoors and had a smear of dust across one cheek. "Luke? Did you know Granddad cuts down the trees? And then he… he… what do ya call it?" he cocked his head and held his hands upside down on either side of him.

"Chops?"

"Yeah that! He chops them up and then he puts the wood by the fire and then he builds fires!"

"And what's this?" Noah asked, noticing a piece of white cardboard in his hand.

Nicholas became all coy and handed it to him, "I made it for you!" And he grinned broadly.

It wasn't the usual Nicholas style drawing they were so used to being presented with. Instead somebody had helped him glues twigs, grass and leaves to make up a larger image of a flower. Even from this it was easy to see Nicholas's natural artistic talent. It was astonishingly good for a child his age and it gave much insight into how meticulously he viewed the world.

"It's amazing Nicky." Noah complimented.

"I did this part and this and this…" he pointed at various parts of the picture, "and Granddad he did make this…"

"Wow baby!" Luke hugged him, not missing Nicholas's use of the word Granddad, "Thank you. We'll take this one home for the fridge okay?"

"YEAH!"

...

Completing the grocery shopping at night was definitely quicker than during the day, especially when every third person you came across was somebody you knew from way back when.

"Noah Mayer? Is that you?"

"Noah! So good to see you back pal!"

"Java hasn't been the same without you!"

But he didn't mind. It felt good. He didn't realise how much he had missed the small community feel. You just didn't get that in the big city. It was even the same old lady Pat behind the till, her hair now totally gray and a few more wrinkles added to her kind continence.

When he and Luke had first lived together in Oakdale, they were like fish out of water when it came to anything along the lines of household chores. They didn't have a clue how to cook or what cleaning products they needed and Patricia, feeling sorry for them, had leant them a helping hand. And then she would laugh at them whenever they'd come in for a frozen pizza because their latest meal was blackened ash.

"I'd ask what brings you back to Oakdale son, but I bet I already know the answer to that, don't I? And she winked at him. "I bet it has something to do with a certain blonde cutie called Luke?"

Noah blushed and then suddenly jumped as something loud crashed behind him and he turned to find a man in the queue had dropped a bottle of wine on the floor. It had shattered and the red liquid quickly covered the tiled floor. Noah was amazed neither of them had any stains on their clothing.

The attractive man was staring wide eyed at him with an odd kind of expression that made Noah feel extremely uncomfortable. He felt like he was being checked out.

...

He was stunning. Dark featured with silky black hair slightly curling in just the right places. Long legs held a tall, powerful and full-formed body. Of course he would be stunning! Troy wasn't surprised. The person HE would fall for would have to be perfect! Wouldn't he?

But this man was kind too Troy thought. He could see the softness in the crystal blue of his eyes and Troy wanted to cry. Right there in the middle of the store in front on him.

This guy!

Loved by HIM!

...

"Sorry." The strange man seemed to say it out of habit, rather than because he meant it.

"No problem." Noah replied.

In the meantime two clerks had arrived to clean up the glass and the mess and Noah returned his attention to Pat, who had since then finished scanning the items through the till.

"That'll be 47.50 there, Noah."

Noah patted his pockets and realised to his annoyance that he'd left his wallet in his other jeans.

"Problem?" asked Pat.

"I'm really sorry! I'm going to have to come back another time. I've gone and left my cash at home! I can't believe it! Do you know this is the second time I've tried to do the shopping?"

"I'll get it." Noah turned in surprise to the man behind him, who was already handing a fifty dollar bill over to Patricia.

"No, no really!" Noah said quickly, "You don't have to do that!" But Pat was already ringing up the change.

"Please." Insisted the man, "It's the least I can do after dropping wine all over you."

"But I don't have any on me. Really! I can't accept."

"Okay look." The man replied, grabbing a pen from the till and scribbling his details on a brown paper bag, "Here's my name and number. You can pay me back if that makes you feel better! At least let me cover it for now."

Without looking at it, Noah took the paper, frowning in confusion at the stranger. Then finally he decided to accept the gesture as the typical friendliness of a small town and smiled at him. "Well. It's very kind of you! Thanks so much."

"Don't mention it." The man was still eyeing him up and down and, despite the seemingly kind act, had not once smiled at Noah.

Noah folded and slipped the brown bag in his pocket; grabbed the handles of the shopping bags and made for the exit; pausing once to say, "Thanks again!"

...

Noah. That was his name. Biblical also, a perfect match to HIS.

Troy found himself distraught. He didn't bother fetching another bottle of wine, instead he left the store and watched the broad and beautiful back of that man as he walked away, returning no doubt to HIS bed and to HIS life…

Troy didn't hate him. It wasn't his fault! That was just the way of it for Troy and the life he knew. Everybody used him. Everybody left. He was unlovable.

He knew that now for certain.

...

After packing the bags in the back of Holden's truck, Noah couldn't help but be curious, so he reached into this pocket to pull out the paper bag. When he read the name scrawled neatly below the numbers he swallowed hard and his hands began to shake. That was him! That was Troy Jenson!"

He sprinted back into Old Town looking for him and finally saw the skinny man walking in the opposite direction.

"Hey Wait!" Noah yelled.

The man spun around.

"You're Troy?" Noah asked as soon as he reached him.

He seemed surprised. "You know? You know about me and...?"

"And Luke? Yes. He told me. So you knew who I was…? I mean in the shop?"

"Yes."

"Why didn't you say anything?"

"Well, it didn't really seem the place." He rubbed his hand on the back of his head.

"Yeah." Noah agreed, seeing his point, "I guess you're right. Anyway, um, I'm Noah. Thanks again… for the groceries…"

"No problem." As Troy turned to continue on his way something dawned on Noah.

"Hang on! Jenson? I think I remember your parents… They used to come into Java for coffee."

"Yeah, sounds like them."

"Your family owns The Village restaurant right?"

"Yip, along with other things…" He seemed bored with the line of questioning.

"Wow. I didn't even know they had a son."

"Yeah well, neither do they half the time!" Troy shrugged. "I've been in one boarding school or another my whole life."

"Oh, I see. Okay, well. See you around."

"Yeah."

Noah watched the back of him as he strolled nonchalantly on his way. He felt a thick tightening in his stomach at the thought that this man had been with Luke. REALLY been with him… He let out a steady stream of air and tried to ignore the images conjured up by his imagination, "Get a grip, Mayer!" he whispered to himself, "None of that matters!"

...

Holden had erected a blue and yellow stripped hammock at the very bottom of Emma's garden. It was posted between the sturdy trunks of two impressive oak trees, trees that most likely stood there centuries before the farm.

Luke had found a kind of solace there. After helping Holden with a few chores around the farm, and with Noah off in Old Town picking up the groceries he'd neglected to bring home the night before, Luke was snoozing within the dipped fabric, having tired of reading his book.

Lilly had brought the kids around for Sunday lunch and the girls were all busy in the kitchen, giggling and cooking together. Ethan, confident child that he was, had long since run off to his favourite spots around the farm and Luke would occasionally check on Nicholas, who was busying himself nearby with leaf rubbing, the way Holden had shown him.

Luke thought he must have nodded off for a few minutes before he heard Ethan's unmistakable voice, loud and strong as usual, yelling, "Look Nicky! Look what I found!"

He opened his eyes and shaded them from the winter sun that temporarily blinded him. He watched as the excited Ethan ran up the hill towards a less than enthusiastic Nicholas. Luke had to admit that he was concerned with Nicholas's disinterest in his brother. The two of them were only a year's difference in age and both he and Noah had hoped that spending time with Ethan might help the child develop his seriously lacking social skills. But Nicholas continued to stay glued to Luke and Noah and, besides Holden, he hadn't said a word to any other family member, least of all Ethan.

He watched as Ethan reached Nicholas and noted how he cupped his hands gently together and then lifted one hand up to show Nicholas what was inside. Nicholas stared down at the object, Luke couldn't make out what it was but Ethan said, "It's an egg! It's an egg from a bird! I found it!"

Then Nicholas did something that made Luke jump up quickly from the hammock and head in their direction. The child grabbed Ethan's egg laden hand and slapped it against the other child's chest, thereby destroying the small and fragile object so that the yolk inside dripped down the front of Ethan's t-shirt and through his little fingers.

Ethan didn't often cry, but after he recovered from the shock of the gesture, the child burst into loud wails and tears. He ran towards Luke the moment he saw him and Luke knelt down to meet him.

He hiccupped back the sobs, holding his sticky hand out in front of him and trying to speak, "Nic… Nic… Nicky…"

"I saw baby. Come here champ." And he gave his brother a hug. "Sometimes Nicholas doesn't understand okay?"

He was lost. How could he explain Nicholas to a child who in almost every way had the perfect up-bringing? He had parents who loved him, siblings who adored him, and grandparents who doted on him. He didn't know what it meant to be slapped and bruised and neglected. He could never understand at the tender age of five why another child would do anything like this to him.

"I just wanted to show him! Why did he break it? I wanted you to help me… I wanted you to help me put it back in the nest."

"I know sweetheart. But don't you worry okay? Usually when they're on the ground like that it's because the mommy bird knows it's never gonna hatch, Okay? So she usually kicks it out the nest. Okay?"

That seemed to make him feel better. Ethan loved nature and could never stand the thought of an animal in pain.

As Luke hugged Ethan to him again he looked up to catch Nicholas standing stock still, his drawings at his feet, his arms clenched in tiny fists by his sides with an expression of utmost hatred on his usually sweet face. Hatred directed at Ethan, Luke knew. His heart froze sadly! They had a problem! Noah and he had a serious problem!