Till You're In My Arms Again - by BigDestiny

"He's on his way here?" Newly rescued kidnapping victim Luke Snyder had grabbed a phone and called home, as soon as he'd been able to. He wasn't sure how he was going to explain the rather odd circumstances surrounding his rescue. But before he'd even attempted it, he found out that his mother had her own odd story to tell.

"I don't know how to explain it," Lily told him, uneasy. "One minute he was there, and the next minute he was gone. Sweetheart, I don't know about this…."

"Mom, I'm sure it's fine," This!Luke insisted. "The other Noah is really nice, I'm sure this other me will be, too." Other than likely causing him no end of paradox related tension headaches. Still, the other Noah had helped to save him. They all owed him big time for that; so much so that This!Luke had swallowed his pride and asked his biological father, Damian, for help in getting the other Noah home.

Even if that seemed virtually impossible.

"Wait. There's another Noah now?"

This!Luke smiled. "I know. I'll try to explain everything when we get home. With any luck we can get out of here by tomorrow afternoon."

"Let me get your grandmother on it," Lily said. "I'm sure she can cut through any red tape your being there without a passport has caused."

"Oh, that's already cleared up," This!Luke told her. "The delay's- Now don't let Dad get bent out of shape by this, but there's a party tonight, and Damian wants me and Noah at it. Sort of hijacking it to celebrate my release."

"Luke-" Lily sighed.

"Mom, I know. But I haven't seen him since I was three. And he's really trying. I- Jeez!"

"What is it?"

This!Luke shook his head in amazement. Sometimes seeing wasn't believing. "He's here. The other Luke. Damn, no wonder Noah can't keep his hands off my a-" This!Luke bit off what he was saying, belatedly remembering who he was on the phone with. "I've gotta go. Give my love to everyone."

"Will do. We love you, too, baby."

LUKE AND NOAHFOREVER

"Hey! It's you"

Luke jumped, spinning around to face his counterpart from this universe. This!Luke was much calmer than the one Luke had just met, at least on the surface. It was funny. A day ago Luke would have insisted someone treating him with feigned hospitality drop the act and just say what he meant. Now Luke was simply glad someone else had answered the awkward questions for him. "Hey. I'm guessing you've met my Noah."

"Yeah," This!Luke replied. "He didn't say anyone was coming to find him."

"Well, you know how pessimistic Noah is," Luke smiled wanly.

"I'm just glad you've got a way to get him home," This!Luke told him. "I've got my - well, you know Damian - looking into it. But unless James Stenbeck has a portal gun hidden somewhere at Fairwinds, we've pretty much got nothing."

"Actually, creating a spatial portal is much easier than the plotting of a specific destination." This!Luke raised a surprised eyebrow; he hadn't noticed Bryant until that moment, and couldn't quite figure out who he was.

"Sorry," Luke exclaimed. "It's just been forever since I've seen Noah, and my manners are starting to freeze up. This is Bryant. He's- well, he's been trying to help me find Noah. Bryant, you already know who Luke is, obviously."

"Nice to meet you," This!Luke stated, though he was once again looking more confused than welcoming. "So, you're like, a scientist or something?"

Bryant's face fell; no doubt reminded of the fact that he didn't know who he was. "Or something."

Luke jumped to his almost son's rescue again (not surprisingly, it had become Luke's default setting). "I'm sure you've got a lot of questions, but do you think they could wait until after I've seen Noah. It's just been so long…."

This!Luke looked over his counterpart with a measured gaze. "Well. I COULD try to get a hold of Damian. He's with your Noah right now. OR…."

Luke looked up blankly, not knowing where this other Luke was going with this. Then his eyes widened in shock. "Look. I'm sure, being me, that you're very nice. And it's not like I haven't given it any thought since this whole thing started. And MAYBE if it was a four way with the other Noahs, maybe it wouldn't be-" Luke cut his ramble short when This!Luke started laughing hysterically.

"Oh my god," This!Luke laughed. "You thought- Oh my god!" It took a couple of minutes for him to calm down long enough to continue. "Luke, your Noah saved my life. I owe him. And if I can't be the one that gets him home, I can at least make his reunion with you memorable."

Luke blushed. "I uh- God, this is embarrassing. So what DID you have in mind?"

"There's a big party tonight," This!Luke announced. "Let's get you cleaned up, turn the room we've got for Noah into a two room suite, and make an evening of it."

LUKEANDNOAHFOREVER

Noah was starting to regret getting dragged along to the evening's festivities. The earlier bite he'd felt when This!Luke and This!Noah had first reunited was back. Along with that agonizing burn in his heart where Luke's love had cooled and sustained him.

He was fully aware he was depressed. When you couldn't even drink because it reminded you too much of your lost love, you were well and truly fucked.

Luke, well This!Luke had insisted that everything was going perfectly. That all he needed to do was show up and let them handle things for a while. It was hard to trust people. It had been hard before all this started, and even his natural instinct to trust that face and voice had faded with the knowledge that it was just a face and voice.

Not Luke.

Not the man he loved.

Noah had already ditched the party by the time that Luke had arrived.

LUKEANDNOAHFOREVER

Luke was literally jumping up and down the second he entered the ballroom. However, he told himself it was from being so short, rather than immaturity at seeing Noah again. Not that he could actually SEE Noah through this mass of people. "Do you see him?" he asked Bryant.

Bryant pointed across the room. "There he-never mind," he added as his other senses caught up with his eyes. "That's this world's Noah."

Luke sighed, bemused. "Could you imagine a world that was JUST Lukes and Noahs."

Bryant shuddered, no doubt imagining how long it would take to find out if his parents were on such a world. "Not willingly."

"Luciano!" This world's Damian Grimaldi crossed the floor, and Luke had to stomp down his own shudder. He felt a little bad about his reaction as from everything he'd heard , this Damian was much kinder, and less homophobic than the one he'd left.

Must be nice.

Damian stopped a polite distance away from Luke, his smile losing some of it's initial punch on seeing it wasn't this world's Luke. "My apologies. I thought you were my son for a moment. I'm Damian Grimaldi," he added as he offered his hand.

Luke made himself accept this Damian's welcome. "Luke Snyder. Although I guess that we both know who each other is."

Damian laughed at that, and Luke felt a twinge of envy for This!Luke. "True enough. You must be looking for your Noah, though. I think I saw him slip out towards the canal a moment ago."

Luke's face brightened at that. "Thanks so much. Bryant, can you-"

"Eat?" Bryant finished. "Cause I'm starving."

"Sounds good," Luke told him. "Could you grab something for me and Noah, too? You just reminded me that I'm starving."

LUKEANDNOAHFOREVER

Noah was standing at the edge of the canal, deep in thought when Luke finally found him. His eyes flickered between the joy of finally seeing Luke, and the shuttering when he again assumed that this wasn't his Luke.

It was a moment Luke knew all too well, and made him curse himself for wasting the day frivolously getting ready for the ball. He didn't need a romantic reunion. He just wanted to be with Noah again. "Noah, it's me. Your Luke." Luke hoped this was the one and only time he'd ever have to introduce himself that way.

Noah's eyes widened, hopeful but he seemingly frozen in place. "Luke? God, I have seen so many Lukes in the last- god, I don't even know how long."

Luke came a little closer. Cautiously; Noah was understandably nervous about accepting Luke's claim at face value. "Tell me about it," he teased.

Luke took another step and, amazingly Noah stepped back. "Wait, please. I need- Luke, is that really you?"

Damn, convincing your boyfriend you were you was a lot harder than Luke thought. This was more like how things were with ye olde Noah. Even the cagey look in the eyes was the same. "Of course it's-"

Luke broke off, his jaw suddenly didn't seem to be working. Those eyes. One look had Luke convinced that he hadn't run into yet another Noah, that this was still his, but something had gone wrong. Those eyes were worn, they'd seen too much, things that couldn't be unseen. Luke had only been to a few worlds, but if they'd both been jumping through time as well as space…. "Noah, how long has it been since you've seen me?''

Noah frowned at Luke, confused. "Don't you know?"

"I thought I did," Luke admitted. "I'm not so sure now."

Noah looked perilously close to crying, but as expected he wasn't about to give in to them. "God, I CANNOT handle a Luke wandering thought time and space that isn't mine."

"I AM your Luke, I swear. Ask me anything."

"I've seen so many Lukes," Noah told him. "Everything that's happened to us has happened on a hundred other worlds. To a hundred other Lukes."

Hundreds? God, Noah. "Ask. And fast because I want you in my arms more than ever now." Noah didn't seem like he could speak, and Luke was growing frantic. "Do you remember the first time we kissed? I asked you what was wrong, and you said, 'nothing.' Noah, how likely is it that anyone else had that exact thing happen." He hoped it wasn't very. If everything kept reoccurring the way he and Noah had, the way Luke's Maltese kidnapping had, then the only thing Luke had to prove his ID was some guy Noah had never met.

But Noah pulled himself together, faster than Luke believed he himself could have managed. Memory clearly visible behind wet eyes. Noah was looking back up at the palace the other Luke's party was taking place in. "Do you know what Luke's favorite flower is? Do you know why?"

"Sand Crocus," Luke answered automatically. "There were some growing outside my window in the dungeon on Malta. It was the only thing that I could see besides my dad that was still alive. You remember the day I told you that?"

"That day we were researching for my trip to Rome. You told me about Dante kidnapping you. That's how I found this Luke."

"He told me," Luke noted. "For what it's worth, HE believes that I'm me."

"Yeah, well he can't be all that smart, or he'd have escaped like you did." Despite the joke, Noah's voice was so taut, Luke was waiting for it to crack. Was hoping for it to crack. Waiting for that moment because he knew that it would mean that Noah believed it, too. "What did I give you for Christmas?"

Luke raised his arm, reading the inscription on the watch Noah had given him. "Worth the Wait. And I'm still waiting. In case you're worried I'm one of the thousands of other Lukes who aren't. "

Noah seemed to shatter when he saw and heard that. "God, we wasted so much time."

"I know. But Noah, I'm here now. And for some reason you're still wasting time." God damn it, Luke really didn't mean to be this bitchy. But being this close to Noah, and not being able to comfort him was agony.

"What's you're favorite Bette Davis movie?" Noah sniffled, even though it was more properly a question for himself.

Luke gave Noah a goofy smile, even as his own tears started to fall. Noah would never ask such a stupid question if he wasn't sure who he was talking to. "Return From Witch Mountain?"

"You are such a dork," Noah wept, even as he swept Luke up in his arms. "Oh, god, it's you. I knew it was you the second I saw you, but I was so scared. Am so scared." Noah pulled back just far enough so he could look into Luke's eyes. "Please. Please don't vanish into midair on me."

"I promise." And Noah believed him; Luke could see a little of that haunted look leave Noah's eyes. There was still the serious matter of how they were supposed to get home, but for right now they were together again. And they could handle anything beyond that.

END

Yeah, I know that they're not home yet. I've got more story that I'm probably going to retool at some point. But given that this has been my worst received story (in terms of reviews) yet, I probably won't be writing a sequel for a while. If there's anyone still reading, thank you.