Disclaimer – Anything you recognize doesn't belong to me (although I wish it did!).
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"Noah, this is Constable Harrington." The deep voice said. "I was wondering if I could talk to Luke. I understand that he's going through a hard time right now, but it's to do with the investigation."
Noah froze; counting to ten and breathing slowly to ensure that he didn't berate the officer for undermining Luke's 'hard time.' "Sir," Noah began, "I hate to disappoint you, but Luke is definitely unavailable at the moment. I can answer questions on his behalf, if you'd like. But I know that nothing he says is going to bring his little brother back." Here, Noah paused in order to collect himself, "So I think that whatever questions you have can wait another half an hour, don't you?"
"Actually, Noah, this is quite an important matter." Harrington stated, sounding less placating and more business-like. "It has to do with Luke's car. Do you know whether he has had any mechanical work done on it recently?"
Startled by the question, Noah thought before he answered. "Umm… I know that he had a warranty inspection last week, and everything seemed fine. Why? Is something wrong?"
A weary sigh could be heard on the other end of the line, before a voice filled the phone lines once again. "We believe that Mr. Snyder's car may have been tampered with; it appears that someone with mechanical experience purposely caused his car to break down. Can you see why it is of the utmost importance that we talk to him?"
Noah slowly sat down on the stairs he had been standing by, his head whirling with questions. Who would do that? Why would someone do that?
"Noah, are you there?" Harrington asked, sounding worried. "I know this is a lot to take in, but I need Mr. Snyder to come down to the station as soon as possible. Unfortunately, I can't just take your word on the condition of Mr. Snyder's car; I need to talk to him directly. Also, could you get Mr. Snyder to bring any records of his last visit with his mechanic? Documentation is important."
"Definitely." Noah replied slowly, wishing he understood what all of this meant. "Constable, if I brought the documentation down to the station, would that be okay? I don't think Luke is fit to be out in public right now."
"I suppose that would do," Harrington reluctantly replied. "How soon can you be here?"
"Give me half an hour." Noah promised, before saying goodbye and hanging up the phone. He stared at his feet for a moment, blankly noticing the designs imprinted on the carpet, before shaking his head and standing up. Sneaking back into Luke's room, Noah grabbed a piece of paper and a pen off of Luke's desk – always the writer, his boyfriend was – and scribbled a brief note about having to leave the house before duplicating it. He placed one of the notes on his pillow, and the other underneath Luke's cell phone on the table. Luke had often complained that he could never find the notes that Noah left him. This way, Noah knew that Luke had to find at least one.
Noah softly shut the door before exiting Luke's room. He made his way downstairs, walking softly as to not wake up Luke.
Once he arrived in the kitchen, he noticed that Emma wasn't there. She had been baking ever since she had found out about Ethan, and Noah was relieved to see that she had gone to some of her friends, someone she could be with; not alone with only her baking utensils and recipe books to console her.
Focusing, Noah tried to remember where Luke had placed his car's documentation. Looking around, he saw the yellow folder Luke kept all of his mechanic's information in peeking out from under a mass of papers on the counter. Smiling slightly at Luke's inability to stay organized, Noah grabbed the folder and opened it to make sure it contained the papers needed. Nodding to himself when he saw that everything was in order, Noah grabbed his car keys and headed for the station.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Pulling into the station, Noah was surprised at the sheer amount of vehicles he saw in the parking lot. Studying some of them on his way in, he quickly realized that the majority of them belonged to many branches of the Snyder clan. Not wanting to deal with the massive amounts of well intentioned Snyder's who would want to ask him questions about Holden, Lily and Luke, Noah pulled up the hood on his jacket and walked into the station with his head ducked down.
Avoiding the bustling crowd and walking straight to the desk, Noah stood there until he caught the attention of the receptionist. "Hello, is Constable Harrington here? I need to speak with him."\
The receptionist glanced at him, before asking "What do you need to speak to him about?" The way she phrased the question gave Noah the impression that she had been fielding questions about the Constable, and his newest investigation, all day.
"I'm here on behalf of Luke Snyder," Noah said, watching as the receptionist looked at him in a new light. "The Constable needs to see some documentation, it's important."
"What's your name?" the receptionist asked, "I'll let Constable Harrington know you've arrived."
"Noah, Noah Mayer," he replied, "I spoke to the Constable on the phone earlier today."
"Noah, if you could take a seat, I'll have the Constable right out to see you." With a smile, the receptionist waved her hand towards a number of seats that were set up, forming a sort of waiting room.
Noah had barely made it to his chair when he heard a deep voice call out his name, causing almost every Snyder in the building to glance up and look for him. With a cringe, Noah turned around and forced his face to not show his surprise upon seeing the Constable.
Constable Harrington couldn't have been that much older than Noah himself – Noah would guess his age to be in his middle twenties. He had blonde hair, emerald green eyes, and a body that screamed Hawaiian surfer. He looked nothing like Noah had been expecting – how did someone so young become such a hardened officer?
Keeping his expression from showing his thoughts, Noah walked up to the Constable and shook his hand, introducing himself with a brief "Noah Mayer."
"Constable Eric Harrington." he replied, "Could you come with me, please?" Not waiting for Noah's answer, the Constable turned on his heel and headed towards what Noah assumed was his private offices.
When Noah entered the moderately sized office, Harrington sat down and pointed towards the seat that Noah was to take. Noah reluctantly sat down before sliding the folder he had been carrying towards the Constable.
"These are the documents you wanted?" Noah asked, knowing the answer but wanting the affirmation.
"I'm about to find out." Harrington replied, grabbing the files and scanning through the documents. "Yes… everything appears to be fine here." He stated, glancing between the papers in the folder and various papers spread about his desk.
"Noah, I'll be right back. I'm going to photocopy these documents briefly; is that alright?" At Noah's nodded consent, Harrington grabbed the folder and left the room, leaving Noah to his thoughts.
Harrington reappeared within a matter of minutes, entering the room and sitting down once again. "Noah," he began, "Although I appreciate you coming down here, it is imperative that I speak to Luke immediately."
Noah held Harrington's gaze for a long moment before he replied. "I'm aware of that, Constable, and I promise that I will bring Luke down here as soon as possible. Luke hasn't slept since the accident, and I didn't want to wake him – especially with what he's going through."
"Luke's lucky to have such a good friend." Harrington replied, looking at Noah with a mix of respect and understanding.
"Luke and I are far more than friends, Constable," Noah stated, knowing that he had to put that piece of information on the table. At Harrington's confused look, Noah continued. "We are boyfriends; is that going to be a problem?"
Harrington recovered from his brief surprise to answer Noah's question. "No, of course not! I apologize for my assumption."
Noah's tight nod seemed to reassure Harrington, and he gave Noah a small smile before handing him the yellow folder. "Thank you for coming down here, Noah" Harrington said, before sliding a small business card across the table. "I wrote my cell phone number on the back of this card; please call me as soon as Luke is able to come down here to talk to me."
Noah nodded yet again, putting the card in his pocket and heading towards the door. Struck by a thought, he turned around to face Harrington. "Constable Harrington," he began, "is there any way that I could exit the building through a side door? I don't have time to deal with the Snyder's right now – I need to get back to Luke."
"Certainly," Harrington replied, "Follow me." Beckoning Noah, Harrington led them down the hallway to an emergency exit door.
"Thank you," Noah murmured before leaving the building and practically running for his truck, desperately wanting to get home to Luke.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
When Noah arrived at the Snyder farm, the first thing he noticed was how quiet it was. Normally the noise from the farm could be heard from miles away, but there was not a sound besides the neighing of the horses.
Noah practically ran up the stairs to Luke's room in his desperation to see him. He paused briefly in front of the door to catch his breath and calm his frantic heartbeat – why was he scared? Unable to answer the question, he pushed it out of his mind before opening the door.
When he saw a haphazardly made bed and no Luke, Noah began to panic. Where could he have gone? Oh god, did someone come here for him? Oh god, no… please no…
Panicking, Noah felt the tenuous control that he had maintained since hearing about Luke's accident slip. As soon as he acknowledged that he was loosing it, he felt himself slowly sit onto the bed. He stared at the wall for endless minutes before hearing his a version of father's voice in his head; calling him weak and stupid for wallowing in emotions when they would do nothing to help him.
Standing upright and feeling like a rod of steel was in place of his spine, Noah scanned over the room, looking for any sign that would show him where Luke went. Glancing about the room, he had an epiphany, and felt like smacking himself for not realizing where Luke would be earlier. Grabbing his discarded coat, he turned on his heel and ran out of the room.
When he arrived at the barn and saw Luke hugging one of the horses, Noah almost ran over to him in relief. Instead, he controlled his impulse and stood in the shadows, just watching, listening.
Luke was mumbling into the mane of Shadowdancer, his favorite mare, but his every word was more than clear to Noah, who stood just meters away.
"Shadow, this isn't fair." Luke whispered, unaware of his audience. "I should be the one in that morgue, not Ethan. It's my fault… I'm the one that got in that car, I'm the one that trusted that fucking ass, I'm the one that should pay for it. And if not me, Kevin should be the one with his neck fucking snapped. How could he live? Shadow, how? It's not fair, it's not fucking fair!" Luke's voice wavered, until he buried his face back into Shadow's neck and stayed still for endless minutes.
Noah walked up behind Luke, purposely making his steps loud so Luke would know that he was coming. Luke stiffened, and hoarsely called out "I don't want to see you!" before turning around. When he saw Noah, something in his eyes seemed to shift – vulnerability appeared, and it almost seemed as if Luke was giving up his fight to look calm.
Noah enveloped Luke in yet another hug, before he could fully process what the hopeless look in Luke's eyes meant. Instead, he hoped that with time, he would be able to heal whatever had snapped within Luke on that car trip back to Oakdale.
When Luke's breathing evened out, Noah released him, quickly placing his hands on Luke's shoulders to keep him from moving too far away.
Luke was the one who broke the silence between them. "Noah, where'd you go?" Luke asked. "Your note said that you had to take care of something; what was that?" At Noah's awkward silence, Luke continued. "If you wanted to get away from me, I understand, I mean I'm not that much fun to be around right now, and -"
Noah grabbed Luke and placed a hard, silencing kiss on his lips. Maybe it was out of place, with all events considered, but Noah knew that Luke needed to feel something real. When he eventually pulled back, Luke's eyes had darkened several shades.
"No, Luke, you know that I would rather be here with you than anywhere else. No matter what."
Making sure that he had driven his point home, Noah continued. "I had to go down to the station to talk to a Constable." Noah's hopes at brushing off the topic were quickly disappointed when Luke snapped his head up, looking more alive than he had since everything happened.
"What did you have to talk to the police about?" Luke asked, partly curious and partly terrified. When Noah was silent, Luke spoke up again. "Noah… don't lie to me. Please."
"Luke… they think that someone tampered with your car, to make it break down." The look of complete shock in Luke's eyes unsettled Noah, but he continued. "They need to talk to you, but I told them that you were busy; they called when you were sleeping."
A hard, steely look had settled in Luke's eyes, replacing his shock. Something Noah had never seen in the warm chocolate brown depths, and something that he had hoped he would never see; the expression was just wrong on his lovers face.
"So… Noah, are you telling me that they think this was intentional?" Luke asked, slowly. "Someone meant for Kevin to pick me up? Someone meant to kill me, to kill my little brother? My god," Luke gasped, "do you think that Kevin did this?"
Noah's empty look told Luke everything that he needed to know. Locking a part of himself away, far away where it wouldn't bother him with his grief and loss, Luke looked into Noah's eyes and stated "Grab your keys. We're going to the station. Now"
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