Noah found Michelle sitting at the breakfast bar. In one shaky hand she held a lit cigarette, smoke wafting lazily toward the ceiling, while the other hand smoothed a crumpled stack of stapled pages resting on the table top. It was clear the papers, whatever they were, had once have been folded into four.

For want of an ashtray she had taken one of the clean plates from beside the sink and was using that instead.

Noah closed the door behind him.

"We don't smoke in this house."

"Sorry." She quickly stubbed it out on the plate. "Managed to quit everythin' but the smoking. It's worse when I gets nervous."

Noah nodded. It was obvious Michelle was just as ill at ease as he was.

"Can I ask you somethin'?

"Depends."

"Will ya tell me how Winston died?"

Expecting a question about Nicholas, Noah was completely thrown. He didn't want to go over that terrible moment in his life but she was looking at him so expectantly.

He sighed. "Do you drink coffee?"

"Don't everyone?"

Noah walked across the room and opened one of the top cupboards, extracting a fresh filter and spending a moment choosing which blend of coffee he wanted. He had bags of Java's best. He and Luke would always pick some up whenever they visited Oakdale.

Java's fine blends were something he had really missed when he first moved to L.A. Before Luke…

...

When his cell rang all of a sudden it seemed louder to Noah than it actually was.

He was in the middle of drying his hands after washing the dinner dishes and the sound of the phone made him nervously drop the towel to the floor.

The display read 'Number Withheld' but he felt a familiar pull and his hand shuddered as he lifted the phone from the kitchen counter.

"Luke?"

For a moment there was no reply, just the sound of breathing on the other end of the line.

Then, "Hey…"

One word - just one tiny word of greeting to make Noah's heart do a back-flip. One week, two days, seven hours and ten minutes had passed since he'd forced himself to turn around and leave a heartbroken Luke standing alone in the WOAK office. Since he'd last heard his voice…

"Hi." Noah replied.

"This is a new phone. How did you know it was me?"

Noah heard the sad smile in his voice; could clearly picture that particular look on his face.

"The way I always know…"

He heard Luke shuffling around; heard him clear his throat.

"So… um… you all settled?"

(Settled? No I'm not settled! I miss you! Don't you miss me?)

"Kind of."

"Thought I'd call to check you got my parcel?"

"What?"

Then Noah remembered something he'd forgotten about. He turned to eye the mysterious box that had arrived early that morning.

Lately nothing much caught his attention and he'd merely dismissed the parcel, abandoning it on the kitchen table with the rest of the mail; where it sat ignored all day.

"Oh." He said now; approaching it. "This is from you?"

He heard Luke chuckle.

"Well… I can't see through the phone Bub-" Luke's voice cut off instantly in a quick withdrawal of breath. There was a shocked silence before Luke said, "…I mean, Noah. Sorry… Old habit."

Noah gripped the phone to his ear. It wasn't just the slip, it was also the way Luke had said his name.

"That's okay."

"Well," Luke continued, "tell me what was in that parcel and I'll tell you if it's the one I sent."

"I don't know what's in it." Noah told him. "I haven't opened it yet. Hold on a second."

Reluctantly he parted the phone from his ear and placed it down on the table so that he could use both hands to tear at the brown paper the box was wrapped in.

Even as the first teardrops fell Noah softly smiled and tittered when he opened the lid to view the contents. The box was filled to the brim with various bags of every blend of coffee Java had available.

"How did you know I was missing this stuff?" He asked Luke with amazement.

"The way I always know…" Luke's reply was quick, spilling from his lips as though he had no control over the words; the result of which was a lengthy and uncomfortable silence.

"So…" Noah asked him, eventually working up the courage, "is that why you called…? The package?"

More silence from the other end of the call.

(Please talk to me.)

"Luke? Are you wanting…?"

"I have to go. Enjoy the coffee… I'll call again soon…"

The click as Luke hung up was a deafening answer to Noah's unasked question.

...

Noah was temporarily distracted by the memory and stood smiling at the cupboard contents. Despite the distance between them that year, Luke had kept him fully stocked with a regular supply from Java.

"Noah?" Michelle asked, confused by his sudden inactivity and bringing him back to the present.

"This is a good one." He told her, shaking himself out of it and extracting the Costa Rican blend. "Not too strong and not too weak… with a nutty texture. Luke prefers the Brazilian, but I find that one a little too dark. The only reason he can handle it is because he insists on adding spoonfuls of instant hot chocolate."

She smiled at him as he made nervous conversation. He almost dropped the bag. It was his father's smile.

"You okay?"

He nodded and turned to prepare the coffee.

"So, you gonna tell me then?" she asked.

Noah continued with the coffee preparation, using the time to get his thoughts in order.

"He didn't like it." Noah told her, turning around and leaning back into the counter as he waited for the coffee to brew. "You were right about that."

"Didn't like what?"

"Me and…" he nodded toward the door, "Luke…"

She snorted and nodded at the same time. "Didn't stack up to his perfect moral code, right?"

Noah sadly shook his head.

"Could 'ave been 'cause of me, you know?"

"What could?" Noah asked.

"Could 'ave been my lifestyle shocked 'im… made 'im less accepting?"

"I doubt it, Michelle. He was as he was. Nothing made him that way. I'm done with giving him excuses."

She waited while he filled two mugs with coffee and handed one to her.

"Mmm, delish!" she exclaimed after one sip.

Noah leaned back up against the counter, ankle nervously tapping on the lower cupboard door. Watching her over the top of his mug, he took a large sip himself before briefly closed his eyes to the warming sensation.

"So 'e tried to stop it I take it?" She prompted, "He tried to stop your thing with Luke?"

Sighing once more, Noah left the counter to take up a stool beside her. Then slowly, starting from his first meeting with Luke, he laid out the series of events that led to his father's final demise in the cabin east of Los Angeles.

"Shit!" she exclaimed with sadness. "I always knew 'e 'ad a screw lose but… shit!"

They sat in a companionable quiet, finishing up their second mug of coffee each. It wasn't until they heard Nicholas's cheery giggle that the tension returned to the room.

Michelle stood to approach the window and watched as Luke swung the child upside down, swinging him back up and chucking him high in the air before catching him again.

Noah came up behind her.

"You done real good with 'im." She said.

"We will have to fight you Michelle."

She frowned as she turned to him. "What?"

"Did you hear what went down just now?"

"With the girl?"

Noah nodded.

"Yeah, I 'eard."

"If that man turned around today and said he was taking his daughter back… I wouldn't hesitate one minute in returning her to him. However much that would hurt. Because although in here," he held a hand to the area of his heart, "she's our daughter… mine and Luke's… we want what's best for her. Even if that's not us."

She nodded at him.

"But that little boy out there? You hurt him, Michelle. In so many ways. You can't have him back now. It's too late. Too much damage has been done and he's too young to understand the drug thing. Maybe one day, when he's older, we can ask if he wants to meet you."

He turned to lock eyes with Luke as his husband opened the back door and come in from the yard, leaving Holden to occupy Nicholas outside with a ball.

"That's not why I came." Michelle said, continuing their conversation despite Luke's interruption.

She looked between Luke and Noah for a moment and then returned to fetch the sheets of paper she'd left atop the breakfast bar.

Her eyes flit across the document as she approached them and she took a deep breath before handing the pages over to them.

"I ain't cut out to be a mom." She shrugged. "I weren't then and I ain't now…"

"What is this?" Luke asked as he took the pages from Noah's hands and scanned the front cover.

"I asked the lawyer at the clinic to help me. It's a petition…"

"For what?" a cautious Noah asked.

"I'm signin' 'way my rights to the child. I'm askin' the judge to give 'im to you. Guess it will 'ave to go to court still and everythin' but…"

Noah stepped forward, sure he was hearing wrong. "You're giving me parental rights to Nicky?"

Her gaze fell once more on her son, this child she barely recognised anymore.

"'e's your son. Maybe 'e always was… I never did anything right by 'im… At least this is somethin' worthwhile."

Without another word she grabbed her handbag from the counter, turned and left.

They waited until they heard the front door close before they released the shared breath they were holding.

...

Sitting at the breakfast bar with a cup of coffee, Luke finished reading the legal document Michelle had signed.

When he looked up Noah was still standing by the sink, watching Holden and Nicky through the window. He hadn't moved the whole time, neither had they spoken.

Leaving the papers on the counter, Luke approached him from behind and hugged him back into his body, pressing his forehead into the nape of Noah's neck.

Noah released a breath and stroked up and down Luke's arms.

Luke followed Noah's gaze just in time to catch his father mouth "ice-cream" at them and indicate he was taken Nicholas for a walk.

As Noah nodded and Holden disappeared with Nicholas, Luke placed a few kisses on the back of Noah's neck. He moved his lips slowly under Noah's ear and pulled Noah around to face him as he continued his course down the length of Noah's jaw.

As their lips met, Luke pressed his body closer, brushing tellingly against the quick swelling in Noah's board shorts.

Reading Luke's thoughts like a book, Noah pushed forward tightly against Luke, deepening their kiss and groaning as Luke brought one hand down to smoothly squeeze his erection.

Driven by a sudden need for closeness, for that connection that was purely them, they stumbled and crawled and gasped, losing items of clothing until Luke had Noah standing, buttocks pressed against the counter; naked with hair spiked up from Luke's fondling. Handsome… Perfect…

It hurt to swallow when Luke caught a look pass through Noah's eyes. A dark intensity filled them and Luke saw the danger before he could prepare himself for it.

In a quick swoop Luke was roughly flung stomach first over the sink as Noah came at him with one quick, deep and possessive plunge; all of Noah's fears and insecurities from the past few weeks finding final release in this one act.

Luke released a thunderous scream of pain and looked for something to grip onto. One hand found the cool tap while the other balled into a first.

"Fuck!" he panted, grimacing and banging his fist into the sink. "Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!"

A long, painful, beautiful moment of symbiotic connection past. He managed to breathe in only when Noah's tight hold on him slacked slightly. But the relief was short lived as Noah delivered three more heavy and violent thrusts that burned deeply.

"Noah! Noah!"

Noah silenced Luke's entire mouth with his hand, stilling full within him once more. "Shh… I'm sorry…"

Panting, Noah turned Luke's head so that their eyes could lock and Luke could see the depth of his feeling; his love, his fears, his anger, his loss, his desire, his relief… everything…

Luke understood then - Noah needed this.

He cupped Noah's cheek and kissed him, finding his tongue for a moment and then relaxing, dropping forward in submission, opening up to him.

Reaching past Luke, Noah doused his palm with liquid hand-wash and used it to lubricate between them as best he could while already joined as they were.

Finished, Luke felt Noah's hands reach down and around to stoke at him and the level of Luke's desire reached a fever pitch just as Noah began to move once more.

But it wasn't slow.

Noah drove into Luke with a relentless force Luke had never known from him before. It was a powerful and unseen compulsion Noah needed an outlet for – needed Luke for.

Luke bore it, turning to catch Noah just as he shuddered and quaked; both dropping in sweat to the tiled floor and holding onto each other.

As he came back down to earth Noah turned Luke's face to his, gazing with worry at him.

"Did I hurt you?" he asked.

Luke shook his head. "Not too much."

Noah gently kissed him once on each eye, on his nose and then caught Luke's lips in his own.

"I'm sorry."

Then Luke arched back into the crook of Noah's arm, as Noah tenderly, slowly, brought him to the brink by hand, blowing hot kisses into his ear as they finally let go of the grief and their warm tears blended together.

...

Hope you enjoyed it...