Disclaimer – Don't own them and I'm not making any money off of this, so don't sue?

Enjoy!

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Luke coughed as he struggled to undo his seatbelt and get out of the truck. He could hear Kevin's low gurgle of pain, but it was what he wasn't hearing that scared him. Why wasn't Ethan yelling? Why wasn't he screaming, crying, or asking for help? His brother was always very vocal for a Snyder – and that was saying a lot. So why wasn't he making any noise?

Realizing he was pinned sideways in the truck, Luke managed to escape out of the open window, his muscles aching in protest as he did so. Once he was outside of the truck, he stumbled his way over to the passenger side of the truck, and attempted to reach over the roof of the truck to open the door. His side screamed in pain as he did so, and Luke was almost forced to stop. Ignoring the pain, using it to focus himself, Luke stretched his fingers and managed to open the door.

Bolstering himself up on a conveniently located rock, Luke edged his head into the truck and looked down into his brother's face. Ethan's eyes were closed as if he were sleeping, and Luke would've been able to convince himself that Ethan had been taking a nap if not for the large gash on his forehead, and a trickle of blood running down his cheek.

Luke tried to reach him, but he couldn't; he wasn't able to get a good enough grip to haul himself into the vehicle. Landing on the ground after his failed attempt to get inside of the truck, Luke turned around to find Holden standing in front of him, staring at him.

"Dad, thank god you're here!" Luke babbled, running up to Holden in relief. "Ethan's in there – he's stuck and I can't get him out, and Kevin's in there too, and dad, I need help; get them out!" Luke glanced at the truck before turning his attention back to Holden. Staring at his father, he realized something was wrong. Holden had barely moved, and was staring at Luke in disgust.

"Dad… they need help, please!" Luke cried. He quickly gasped in shock as Lily stepped out from behind her husband, as if she had been there all along. "Mom! Ethan – he needs help! Plea-" Luke's voice faded into a whisper as he noticed that Lily had the exact same look in her eyes as Holden.

Before Luke could ask what was wrong, before he could beg for help again, Faith and Natalie materialized, as if from thin air, followed shortly by the rest of the Snyder clan. Aaron, Lucinda, Jack, Brad; they were all staring at him as if he was a bug on the sole of their shoe.

"Guys?" Luke asked, voice terrified and timid. "Ethan needs help, help him!" He knew that he was repeating himself, but he couldn't stop it.

"Why?" Holden whispered, his voice colder than Luke had ever heard it. "You killed him. It's your fault, Luke."

"No…" Luke whimpered, shaking his head. "He needs help…"

"You're always screwing up, Luke." This time Lily was talking, her words stabbing Luke in the chest like poison darts. "You killed my son; it's too late. He's dead, and it's your fault, Luke."

A murmur of agreements were issued by the Snyder's that were slowly moving closer to Luke, staring at him with eyes full of hate. Luke backed against the car, scared and ashamed, before a flash of dark hair caught his eye.

"Noah!" Luke screamed, running over to his boyfriend. "You have to help me! Ethan's in there and we need to get him out…" Luke's sentence trailed off as he saw Noah looking down at him in revulsion.

"Why?" Noah asked, "You killed him. He's dead and it's your fault, Luke. Just like how it was your fault when you killed my father."

"Noah, please." Luke begged for what felt like the thousandth time, hoping that someone, anyone would listen to him and help his brother.

"Luke….Luke…" Noah repeated, his tone contradicting the look on his face. He sounded almost, caring. Luke focused on it, feeling someone shaking him.

With a gasp, Luke jackknifed in his bed, covers flying everywhere. He barely felt Noah's hand on his forehead, gently stroking his sweaty hair away from his head. He was breathing harshly, trying to catch his breath.

Slowly, the knowledge that he had just been dreaming sent tremors throughout Luke's body. His impulse was to roll into Noah's warmth, but he was so damn sick of being weak, all the time. When he was with his family, he faked that he was alright. Faith and Natalie needed him to be their strong older brother, not the weak sissy that he was in reality. His parents had more than enough to deal with; they didn't need Luke crying to them like he was a child.

Noah, however… Noah was always there for him. And as much as Luke loved that, loved that he knew that he could lean on Noah whenever he needed to, he was tired of having to depend on him. He wanted to be the Luke that Noah had fallen in love with, the strong man that could take care of himself, not the weak boy that he had become. And if he was truly honest with himself, he was scared. Scared that Noah would become tired of always having to take care of him, and just leave.

Rationally, Luke knew that Noah loved him, and that he wanted to be there for him, but he was tired of needing Noah, all the time. So instead of hugging Noah, pulling him close and relaxing into him, Luke rolled out of the bed and stood up. Luke's legs wobbled under him but he forced himself to stay upright through sheer will. He made his way over to the bathroom, opening the door and shutting it behind him.

Once he was alone, Luke pressed his back to the door, shutting his eyes and trying to erase the flashes of his dreams that were playing behind his eyelids. He couldn't remember the entire thing, only snippets. What was imprinted on his mind was the expression on Noah's face, and the words that he had said. " He's dead and it's your fault, Luke. Just like how it was your fault when you killed my father."

Running a hand through his hair, Luke noticed how damp it was from sweat. Suddenly wanting, needing to feel clean, Luke stepped into the shower and turned the dial in the shower until the water was scalding hot. Feeling the water pelt his back, Luke closed his eyes and tried to calm his shaky nerves.

He was so absorbed in relaxing himself that he didn't even notice someone else had entered the bathroom until they were stepping into the shower with him. Turning around, Luke saw one naked, one wet, and one very concerned Noah Mayer standing behind him.

Luke opened his mouth, ready to tell Noah that he was fine, and that he didn't need to be coddled. He abruptly closed his mouth when he felt Noah wrap his arms around him, bringing them chest to chest without saying a word.

Luke stood stiff, waiting for Noah to start asking him questions, but gradually relaxed as he realized that Noah wasn't going to interrogate him. He rested his head in the crook of Noah's neck, wrapping his arms around Noah and clutching him to the point that it must have been painful. If it was, Noah didn't say anything; he merely dropped a kiss in Luke's hair, and tightened his grip.

After a long moment, Luke felt Noah's arms release him before turning him around, so that Luke's back pressed into Noah's chest. Seconds later, Luke heard Noah pop the cap on a bottle. Fearing that it was lube, Luke started to turn around to tell Noah that he couldn't; not today.

Before he could move, Luke felt hands in his hair, gently massaging shampoo into it. Sighing, Luke allowed his body to truly relax into Noah, into his lover. Although part of him was still wishing that he didn't have to rely on Noah to this extent, the larger, smarter part of him realized that Noah wouldn't have followed him into the shower if he didn't want to be there.

Luke felt the hands in his hair tenderly rinse out the shampoo, before adding conditioner. When that was rinsed out too, Noah slid his hands down Luke's neck onto his shoulders, where he started to rub out Luke's stress.

Luke moaned, tilting his head forward to allow Noah more room to work his magic. Although Luke felt Noah's touch everywhere, it wasn't sexual in nature. It was comforting; Noah giving something to Luke, something that no one else could.

When Noah finished his massage, Luke turned around and placed his hands on Noah's cheeks, pulling him forward for a soft and lingering kiss. The kiss was sweet, gentle, and everything that Luke had been missing in his life recently. They hadn't shared a moment like this since they were out by the pond after the Snyder's had returned home, and that had been over a week ago. Luke had missed this closeness fiercely.

They exchanged slow, lazy kisses in the shower until the water began to run cold, and Noah reluctantly broke the kiss. Reaching around Luke, Noah turned the water off before grabbing two fluffy towels off of the towel rack that was beside the shower.

Noah quickly wrapped a towel around his waist before handing one to Luke and opening the shower curtain. The air was so steamy that they could hardly see each other, so Luke grabbed onto Noah's hand so they wouldn't run into each other. Also, he wanted the connection to Noah that was there whenever they touched.

When they stepped back into Luke's room, Noah grabbed Luke's other hand and squeezed. "Luke," he said, the first word spoken since Luke had woken up from his nightmare, "If you need to talk about anything, I'm here for you, okay? I love you, and I don't want you to push me away. It hurts, and I know that you need me as much as I need you."

Luke hadn't considered that Noah would think that Luke didn't want him, and a stab of guilt pulsed through him. "I'm sorry Noah," he started out, hoping to explain why he ran away, "I just… I don't want you to feel like I'm always breaking apart. I want to be strong for you, for us."

Noah gently kissed Luke's temple. "Luke, you stupid, beautiful man. I. Love. You. I want to be here with you; there's no where else I'd rather be. Now, go get changed." Noah smiled, swatting Luke's butt as he walked away.

Luke smiled to himself, knowing that Noah was succeeding at his less than subtle attempt to lighten the mood. Luke dug through his clothes, pulling out a pair of dark wash jeans and a striped shirt to wear. When he finished changing, he glanced over at Noah to see him pulling a shirt on, the muscles in his back rippling as he did so. Why is he here with me, when he could be with anyone he wanted?

Shaking off his question – Noah loved him – Luke grabbed his phone and checked for messages. Seeing that he had several voicemails, Luke pressed the necessary numbers to check what it said. Luke deleted any messages that began with "I'm so sorry…" He hated when people apologized for Ethan's death as if it were their fault, and when people who didn't even know Ethan offered their condolences. Their words were empty, and Luke didn't want to listen to them.

After deleting five messages from various and unheard of Snyder's, Luke came across an official sounding message from the Oakdale PD, asking Luke to call them as soon as he had time. Luke frowned in confusion. Why would they be calling me? Shouldn't they be contacting Lucinda, or at least my parents?

As soon as Luke had informed Lucinda that the police believed that someone had screwed around with his car to make it break down, she had pulled some strings and brought 'the best of the best' in law enforcement to investigate the case. Of course, Oakdale PD was still officially heading the investigation, but Lucinda's cronies were doing a lot of the work, too.

Luke was about to call the station back, before setting down the phone and taking a deep breath. Before he dealt with anything to do with the police, he had to go check on Faith and Natalie, make sure his parents were alright, and contact Aaron to make sure that he had been able to book a flight to Oakdale.

He was knocked out of his thoughts when Noah tapped his shoulder in an attempt to catch Luke's attention.

"I have to go to Java," Noah said, his face downcast. "They need me today, and I tried to call off but I couldn't. Are you going to be okay without me, Luke?"

Luke forced a fake smile that he knew Noah would see right through. "Of course I'll be fine." Luke replied. "I'm going to go check on the family, and then I have to go talk to the police about some stuff."

"The police, again?" Noah responded, his voice dropping an octave. "Wait, I'll call Jeff; maybe he could cover my shift."

"No, Noah." Luke stated, reaching out and grabbing Noah's hand, stopping its descent to his cell phone. "I'll be fine; go! You've missed so much work already, and it's no big deal. Just some more routine questions, I think."

"Luke, are you sure? I don't want to go if you want me with you." Noah said slowly. When Luke insisted that it was okay, Noah dropped a quick kiss on his lips. "Call me if you need anything. I mean it, Luke." Noah insisted. "I don't mind. I love you, and I'll see you in a bit, okay?"

Nodding his head and managing a weak smile, Noah kissed Luke's cheek before leaving the room. Once he heard Noah walking down the stairs, Luke set his hands on his dresser and hung his head, ordering his thoughts and plans for the day. With a weary sigh, he straightened up and headed out of his room, shutting the door behind him.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Luke pulled off his hoodie before violently throwing it to the far end of his bedroom. Grabbing a chair, he swung it around in front of him before straddling it, resting his chin on the back of it as he thought back to his conversation at Oakdale PD.

Remembering their accusations, how they believed that one of Luke's friends broke into their car, Luke angrily stood up, finding that he couldn't stay still. Luke was partially angry at the police officers, but angry at the possibility that what they said could be true; that someone he trusted could have betrayed him.

He reached into his pocket to grab his car keys, but grabbed the wrong end. The sharp sting of the points of the key pressing into his palm surprised him, and he was shocked as he felt his anger slowly abating.

Pulling his hand out of his pocket, Luke squeezed the key, watching as his knuckles turned white. The more the key dug into his hand, the calmer Luke felt, until he had his emotions under control. Flashing back to his car ride with Noah, when he had scratched his nails into his leg, it dawned on Luke that pain was a way to keep his emotions in check. Maybe I won't need to lean on Noah… maybe I can manage this myself.

Luke walked over to his desk and set the car key in its cup holder, glancing down at his palm before doing a double take. There were angry red marks littered across his palm. Luke cursed and walked over to the bathroom, hoping that he would be able to make the indentations disappear before Noah arrived home.

Running water over his hand didn't improve the marks, so Luke concocted a story about falling on some rocks before he headed back downstairs.

When he arrived at the bottom of the stairs, he heard someone walking around the room. Standing still, Luke realized that he only heard one person; if there were two people, Luke knew he would have been able to tell.

Worried that someone had left Faith or Natalie at home without telling him, Luke swung open the door to the kitchen and found himself gaping in shock. He was unable to move, unable to breathe, unable to think. The person standing in the middle of his kitchen swung around, their eyes connecting with Luke's in shock and some other nameless emotion.

Luke, numb to the point that he couldn't think of anything witty or sarcastic to say, asked the one word that summed up everything on his mind; the one word that would answer all of his questions.

"Damian?"

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Quick point! In this story, none of the events involving Damian from March 24, 2009 have occurred. Therefore, Luke hasn't seen Damian since he was in the airport in 2006.
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