When Our Frames Collide

By Carolina Blue

I disclaim and stuff. You know the drill.

Let's pick up where we left off! WARNING: Big ol' cliffhanger at the end of this one!

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CHAPTER 4: TELL ME A LIE IF IT'S TRUE

Luke was vaguely aware that his mom and Noah were nearby, but all he could see were his dad's eyes boring into his, the shock, anger, disappointment that was there. Luke got that sinking feeling in his chest, the kind you got when something really bad was about to happen, or maybe when you were trapped in quicksand. That's how he felt now- the ground having swallowed his feet and was now inching up to his knees. He couldn't move.

"Well, Luke?" Holden prompted, voice way too quiet. They stared each other down.

Luke struggled with his breath for a second before speaking. "I've been working at Grimaldi Shipping since September." He heard Lily make a noise of surprise from somewhere off to the side, but he kept his focus on his dad. "I haven't been trying to get back into school, and I haven't been working at the foundation. I've been working for Damian."

Holden flinched a little at the name. "How?" he asked, gritting his teeth. "How did he get you to do what he wanted? What did he promise you?"

"Nothing, Dad!" Luke burst out, voice rising. "He just offered. There was- is- no ulterior motive!"

"Damn it Luke!" Holden's voice rose even louder than that. "He always has another motive! When are you going to learn?"

Movement out of the corner of his eye had Luke turning his head to the house. Noah had taken a step towards Luke, eyes wide and almost scared. He was breathing in through his nose and out through his mouth- Luke recognized the technique from his nightmares. "Noah…"

Holden frowned and turned as well, but immediately softened when he saw him. "Lily, Noah, can you excuse us for a few minutes, please?" He spoke much quieter, calmer, nodding to his wife.

Lily looked worried but nodded back, putting a hand on Noah's arm. "Sure, we'll be right inside," she said quietly. She and Holden locked eyes, talking to each other silently.

Luke had no idea what they were saying, because he was too busy having his own eye-conversation with Noah. Noah looked at him both nervous and apologetic- I didn't mean for them to find out this way!- and Luke tried to smile back reassuringly- I know, it's okay. I'll be fine. Noah nodded hesitantly and allowed Lily to pull him back into the house.

Which left Luke and Holden alone in the driveway. He whirled back to glare at his dad. "Did you have to yell like that? You know how Noah is about-"

"Luke. You know I love Noah, but don't use him as a distraction right now. We need to talk about you. And Damian." He grimaced as he said the name, as though it were a curse word, as though saying it three times would make the Devil himself appear. Or maybe Damian was like Beetlejuice… Wow, his dad was right. Luke was now even trying to distract himself.

"I'm not sorry about not going back to school," he began, keeping his arms crossed protectively in front of him. "I wanted to tell you, but… but I was scared. I didn't want you to hate me." Luke was aware of how childish that sounded, but he didn't care. He was going to follow Noah's advice: complete honesty.

"What I hate," Holden began, "is that you didn't trust or respect me and your mother enough to tell us from the beginning. That's the issue."

"No, Dad, it isn't. The issue is that you think I've chosen Damian over you," Luke snapped.

"Oh, so you think I shouldn't be upset that my son lied to me for four months?" Holden countered, his own voice growing tenser.

Luke could feel his hands starting to clench into fists. "I think that no matter what I say you're just going to use it to justify your hate for Damian."

"I don't need anymore justification! The last twenty years have been justification enough." Holden ran a hand along his jaw for a second. "People like Damian don't change. You of all people should know that, Luke. I don't understand why you're letting him manipulate you now."

"Give me a little bit of credit!" Luke almost laughed as he spoke. "I know what I'm doing! Don't you trust me at all? Don't you think I can handle myself?"

His dad held up a hand. "I really, really don't think you should talk to me about trust right now. Because you know what? I don't know if I trust you at this moment. It wasn't enough that you kept this big secret from me, your mother, your family, Noah. But you also lied about it. And you threw away your future to work with someone like him. So yeah, I might have some problems with your judgment right now."

Luke shook his head, feeling the anger boiling up in him again. "Okay, some of that is valid. But it's also not fair. You're questioning my judgment just because I'm not making the decisions you want me to make. It doesn't make my decisions wrong!"

"It's always going to be wrong if Damian is involved," Holden insisted. "Look at the damage he's already done- he's got you lying to us. He's got you acting like him. He's already got you turning into him."

Luke felt the words hit him in the face like a slap. He almost turned his head to the side to lessen the sting, but he knew it wouldn't help. "You know," he said after recovering from the hit, "in all of this, Damian is the only one who's asked me what I want to do, asked me if I'm happy, asked me for my opinions on my own damn life. Kind of ironic, isn't it?"

Holden's eyes narrowed. "You think I don't care about what happens to you? Do you think I don't care about you at all?"

"I never said that!" he half-groaned in frustration, trying to calm down but unable. It was like his dad wasn't listening to a word he was saying. He sort of hated that no matter what he did, his dad wouldn't treat him like the adult he was currently getting yelled at for not being. It was a paradox that made his head hurt, which just made him more irritable. "What's the point of this is you're not going to listen to me? Your mind's already made up that I'm wrong and Damian's evil, isn't it?"

"And your mind was made up four months ago, wasn't it?" Holden countered. "When you chose to go to him instead of your family."

And there it was- Luke knew it. Holden was just mad that Luke 'chose' Damian over him. He knew it. "Well you know what, sometimes it's exhausting trying to be a part of this family! Sometimes, I get sick of it! Sometimes, I get sick of being a god damn Snyder!"

The silence that followed was louder than any yell Luke could have ever yelled.

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Lily was fighting two very strong impulses right now. The first being to rush back out the front door and try to stop the raised voices she could hear out in the driveway. But she knew she wouldn't be able to do much at this point- the image of trying to stop a full-blown avalanche came to mind- so she didn't give in to the urge. Of course, her other impulse was to go into the kitchen, pour herself an entire bottle of wine and drink it down in one gulp. So that wasn't exactly a great choice either…

"Lily?" a quiet, deep voice behind her shook her free of the mental debate between Cabernet and Merlot. Noah stood in the doorway of the living room, fidgeting a little. "I… I want to apologize."

"For what?" she frowned in confusion, patting the cushion next to her on the couch.

Noah reluctantly sat beside her, trying to look her straight in the eye. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you about Luke's job. It's just, I didn't know if it was my place or not. And Luke wasn't telling me anything and I wanted him to-"

"Noah, sweetie," she put her hand on his arm again, rubbing it gently. "It's okay. It's not up to you anyway; Luke had to be the one to tell us. This had to happen."

He reached over and held her hand tentatively. "I don't want you to think you can't trust me, or that I would-"

Despite everything, Lily smiled. "Noah Mayer, I trust you with my life and the lives of everyone in this family." She leaned in and kissed his cheek impulsively, more than a little proud of herself when he blushed. "I don't know how long you've known about this-"

"Too long," he mumbled.

"But," she spoke over him. "It's not your job to make sure Luke always does the right thing. It's your job to love him regardless."

Finally, he smiled. "I can do that."

"I know you can," she mirrored his smile before glancing back over her shoulder to the front door. "This was going to happen no matter when Luke told us, okay? Let the two of them get their anger out, and then we'll settle all this just fine." She sounded so confident, she almost believed herself.

Turning back around, she studied her son's boyfriend. He had been quiet again tonight, picking at his food and just drinking juice. She had been around him enough now to know that he always had juice around to drink after coming off a panic attack- something about the sugar, she guessed. Had Noah had an attack recently? "Are you doing okay? Other than this?"

Noah looked at her, startled. "I'm fine. Just tired, school and everything."

Now that she was really looking at him, she could see the beginnings of shadows under his eyes, and he hadn't shaved in a day or two. She gripped his hand a little tighter, otherwise she might have reached up to feel his forehead. She stopped herself, because she knew Noah had gotten fed up with Snyder women checking him for a fever months ago (though he'd never say anything outright). Instead she smiled lovingly. "You know, it's a two-way street. I want you to trust me too. You can tell me anything, honey, and I'll listen."

He regarded her seriously for a moment, opened his mouth (getting her hopes up), but then just smiled and shook his head. "I'm okay."

He went from 'fine' to 'okay,' she noticed. Maybe if she asked three or four more times he would admit something was wrong…

Jade appeared in the doorway then, glancing in the direction of the yelling with narrowed eyes for a second before looking back at Lily. Lily shook her head in warning, so Jade pursed her lips for a moment, thinking, then nodded decisively. "Hey Boyfriend," she called out, smiling when Noah noticed her standing there. "Faith and Nat and I are setting up Rock Band and we need a fourth. You up for it?"

Noah looked back and forth between them before smiling that little smile that Lily knew would win him every argument with Luke if he ever thought to use it. "As long as you don't make me sing."

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"So that's it?" Holden asked, face a bit more pale than it had been before they started arguing. "You're that sick of us? You want to give up on your family? For this job?"

The 'for Damian?' part of his question was unspoken, but they both heard it. Luke shook his head, suddenly exhausted. "I haven't given up anything. The reason I didn't say anything in the first place was because I didn't want to lose you! But now… now it's like you're giving up on me. I can work for Damian and still be your son, Dad. It doesn't have to be an 'either/or' situation."

Holden looked just as tired, and suddenly a lot older than Luke had ever thought he could be. "You've been working for him for four months, and in that time you've already decided to lie to us, go against our wishes, disrespect us by being around him. I don't know if I can come to terms with that Luke, with what you're becoming."

He let out another incredulous laugh, rolling his eyes up to the night sky. "If you can't understand that, then you can't understand me. And I won't do that again, I won't be afraid that my family doesn't accept me for who I am. So if you can't do that, then…"

"Then what? Luke, I'm just trying to keep you from making a big mistake!" Holden's voice rose again.

Luke found he had to match the volume, whether he wanted to or not. "If you can't accept me and my decisions, then I don't want to be around you! At least Damian lets me make up my own mind!"

This time Holden looked like he'd been slapped. They stood facing each other in the driveway, in darkness except for the light coming from the house, the street quiet and empty around them. To Luke, it felt like the world had frozen around them. It felt like the quicksand was up to his chest, constricting his breathing. Is this how it was for Noah when he had a panic attack?

"It sounds like you've already made a choice," Holden finally said. "Please tell me it's not what I think."

"None of this is what you think!" Luke yelled. "Apparently I'm not what you think! So… so until you can treat me like an adult, I'm not doing this. I'm going inside now, I'm getting Noah, and we're leaving." He took a step closer, his voice dropping low. If he could have been outside his body, Luke would have been freaked out at how Damian-like he actually sounded in that moment. "You let me know when you've come to your senses, you know where we live." And then he turned and left Holden to stand alone in the darkness of the driveway.

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"Okay, then I'll see you tonight, right?" Emily could hear Hunter's slightly stuttery voice as she opened the door of her office.

"Eight o'clock sharp. See you then!" a faint, female voice answered.

What? Emily stepped quickly out of the office and looked to Hunter's desk. He was there alone at his computer, looking up at her, confused at her sudden entrance. "Who were you talking to?" she asked, just as confused.

"Maddie," he answered, as though it were the most obvious answer in the world.

"Maddie's here?" she gasped, looking around with eyes already growing disdainful.

"No she's not here, she's in Connecticut, we were talking on Skype, and why do you seem to hate every female that lives in Oakdale?" Hunter got all of that out in one breath.

She held up a finger. "Hey, most of them deserve it. And anyway," waving her hand, "she's dating my son. I'm allowed to hate her."

"Don't hate her," Hunter said seriously, matter-of-fact. "She's nice to me."

Emily smirked. "How does it feel dating the ex of your mother's ex?"

He groaned, head dropping into his hands. "Can we not have that kind of talk this early in the day?"

"It's twelve-thirty," she fired back. "I was about to send you to lunch."

"It's still too early to talk like that," he grumbled as he gathered his things. "Have you been in there all morning? What are you working on?"

"Oh," she shrugged casually. "Some leads for a possibly story. Nothing definite yet."

"Okay…" Hunter eyed her for a second, as though he knew she was hiding something, but he let it go. "I'm meeting Alison for lunch so she can complain about Casey some more. I'll tell her you say hi." He paused, thinking. "Or should I ask her how it feels to date her mother/sister's ex?"

"Get out before I fire you," Emily smirked again as he left. "And what the hell is Skype?" she yelled at his back just as he shut the door. Wandering back into her own office, she opened the stack of files on her desk. She had called in a few favors with some reporters she knew in Atlanta, and now in front of her sat every known public record of Charlene Wilson from the time of her marriage to the time of her death.

It hadn't been easy to track down. She had gone by Charlene Mayer after her marriage to the Colonel, but abruptly switched it back to Charlene Wilson about two years after her son was born. What Emily couldn't find was the reason for the switch. There were no suspicions of abuse (her first suspicion), there was no traumatic event, there didn't even look like any indications of an affair. It was about six months after she went back to Charlene Wilson that the police reports about domestic disputes started (and a few reports of Mayer being brought in for alcohol violations- one time because Noah was in the car with him), and two months after that the Colonel was transferred and the entire family moved to Ft. Bragg in North Carolina.

Emily sighed as she pulled out the files she had gathered from after the move. There wasn't as much to go on, and she hated losing a lead. Another domestic dispute, a spotty report from Child Services was left inconclusive, and then Charlene filed for a restraining order and soon disappeared. What Emily couldn't figure out was why Charlene didn't take her three-year-old son with her…

She shook her head. So what, this was an investigation. There wasn't time for sentimentalities, not if she wanted to get a story out of this. The only problem was, she couldn't find the hook, the 'catch' that her gut told her was hiding in all of this. The billing, the banner on the front page. The headline. She still needed to find it.

And there was still nothing about Augusta…

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Noah stared hard at the computer screen until his eyes started to cross and blur. He had read the same sentence over and over again so many times he could probably recite it verbatim, but he had no idea what the words actually were. He couldn't concentrate, couldn't focus.

He couldn't sleep.

Not that he had really tried since that damn panic attack. Marcus had left the pills for him with strict instructions to use one every night, but he just couldn't do it. The pills left him fuzzy, disoriented. Every time he took one, he felt like he was back in the basement, sick and scared and unable to move, waiting for some monster to come out of the shadows and attack him. He hated getting drugged. He couldn't protect himself.

But Marcus had ordered it and Luke had heard him order it. He knew Luke had been keeping track of the bottle, so for the past two nights Noah had dropped a pill down the sink. He almost laughed at himself, aware of how hypocritical he was being. After all that, trying to convince Luke to come clean about his secret, he was the one keeping the secret now. But a bigger part of him was too tired to care. Instead, he got rid of the pill, washing it away down the drain.

'Down the drain' was a pretty appropriate phrase. Luke and Holden weren't speaking to each other. And it sucked. He and Luke had gone home last night, and Luke had been too upset and exhausted to do anything more than give Noah the barest recount of their argument. Then he had promptly fallen asleep. Noah had gone out to the living room, sat on the couch, and watched a movie. Then another. And another. All three Godfathers (and he really would love Freud to analyze him there), until the sun was just coming up. Then he had hopped in the shower and started his day. Luke had wanted to be alone, he could tell, so Noah grabbed his stuff and went to the library to study.

And now, six hours later, he was pretty sure his brain had lost more than it had soaked in. His research paper about the evolution of B-movie monsters, something that should have taken him about five seconds to write, was still stuck on the opening paragraph. He needed a good title for it too, From A to Z, From A-something to Zombieland? What was a good monster movie that started with A? The fact that he couldn't answer that right away was a little disturbing.

His phone buzzed again. Noah didn't even look at it now. Both Hunter and Casey had called or texted him to hang out today, but Noah just wasn't up for it. And he couldn't work up the energy to talk to either of them about why not. He didn't have the patience today to translate Hunter's nervous chatter or laugh at Casey's joking way of expressing concern. Not today.

He rubbed at his face again, clicking out of his paper for the moment and logging onto the internet. The nagging at the back of his brain was begging for attention. He had found the website for the local paper at Fort Gordon a few days ago, but none of the articles from around the time he lived there had told him anything. But now Noah was thinking differently. The key was Augusta, wasn't it? It was the one thing that didn't fit, in everything he knew about his parents (which wasn't much, admittedly) and everything he knew about his past.

There were a couple local papers in Augusta, Georgia. But only two had decent websites, and only one had articles archived back from the eighties and nineties. So that's where Noah was going to begin his search…

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Damian looked up in surprise when he heard a door open and slam with what seemed like a very satisfying thud nearby. It was Saturday; no one was supposed to be at the office today. He put down the expense reports Luke had given him- how did that account end up on the report?- and moved out into the main room. Everything was empty and dark… except for Luke's office.

He knocked softly on the door as he entered. "Luciano?" he asked softly. Luke didn't look up. His head was in his hands, staring down at his desk. Damian stepped closer, following his gaze. There were a series of photographs framed at the head of Luke's desk. The first was a shot of Luke, Noah, and their friends at one of their now infamous 'Movie Nights.' The second was a candid shot of Luke and Noah from Noah's birthday party a few months ago. Both of them were wearing party hats and silly grins, Luke had an arm slung around Noah's hips and was whispering something in Noah's ear. Whatever it was had caused Noah to blush bright red.

And then the one that seemingly caught Luke's eye. The Snyder family all gathered around outside the barn, in what was probably one of Lily's attempts at a family portrait, like one of those pictures you see hanging up in a studio or a mall. Damian's eyes picked out Luke right away, he was standing next to Holden, and they had their arms around each other.

"Luciano?" he tried again. "Luke?"

"They know, Damian." Damian was confused, until Luke looked up at him. His overbright eyes filled Damian in on all the details. "They know."

"You told them?" Damian asked, hiding his relief for the time being. He hated that Luke had been lying, especially to Lily. He didn't want her blaming him for any of this…

"In a manner of speaking," Luke's laugh was almost painful. "Noah was okay about it- he's actually known for awhile, can you believe that? And Mom didn't really say anything. But Dad wasn't… he didn't… it didn't go well."

Damian frowned, taking a step or two closer. Finally, he dared to put his hand on Luke's shoulder. He could feel every muscle and tendon buzz with tension. "I'm sorry, Luke. If there's anything I can do, if you want me to go talk to Holden-"

"No!" Luke's eyes went wide. "God, no. No, it won't help. You can't force Dad to change his mind, or make up his mind. He can only do that himself."

"Just like you," Damian said quietly.

Luke flinched at little, but didn't comment. "The things we said to each other last night… he doesn't want to see me for me anymore. He wants to see a junior version of himself. And I don't want to be that right now. I can't."

Damian frowned, eyes narrowing. Something in Luke's tone… "What are you saying?"

Luke stood up to his full height. He straightened his shirt, squared his shoulders, and looked Damian in the eye. "That promotion? If you're still offering…"

"I am," Damian said quietly, holding in his mix of confusion and anticipation.

Luke's face was determined. "Then I'm taking it."

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Casey tapped his foot impatiently, resting his head back against the wall. "Come on, Noah, pick up!" He had checked Java, Al's, and that bench in Old Towne that Luke and Noah thought nobody knew they favored. (Everybody knew.) But so far, no study buddy. And he wasn't answering his phone. Anyone else, and Casey might've let it go. But this was Noah, and there was a wiring in Casey's brain that was programmed to worry about the guy. Maybe he should-

"Don't bother," a voice said from off his left shoulder.

Casey jumped about a foot in the air, turning to see Jade. What is it with evil women and their stealth approaches? "Jesus, you scared the hell out of me. And don't bother what?"

Jade didn't even smirk or offer a biting comment. "Noah. I'd leave him alone today." She leaned back against the wall next to him.

"What? What happened?" he asked immediately, not ready to let go of his phone just yet. And then he remembered what day it was. "Damn. Last night was Friday night dinner, wasn't it?"

"Yep," Jade said with a sigh. "Luke couldn't get himself to tell. Noah and I spent the whole night on, like, pins and needles waiting for the moment to happen. And it didn't. So then Noah-"

"Oh God, Noah didn't tell them, did he?" Casey sputtered.

Jade smiled. "I kinda thought he was going to, too. But nope. He drags Luke outside and they start fighting. We could hear them. Lily and Holden go out to see what the trouble is, and open the door just in time to hear Noah lay everything out in the open."

"Ouch," Casey groaned. He leaned his head back against the wall again, imagining how that went over.

"Yep," Jade said again. "Holden and Luke start yelling at each other then. It didn't end pretty. Luke came in, grabbed Noah and left. Holden didn't say a word, just went upstairs. Lily told me this morning that it sounds like he and Luke aren't speaking to each other right now."

"Well, crap." Casey shoved his phone back in his pocket. "So either Noah's laying low somewhere by himself right now, or he's with Luke."

"And either way, they're going to need their space for awhile," she finished for him. "Hopefully Luke will come to his senses and apologize by the end of the weekend."

"Hey," instinct had Casey leaping to defend his friend. "We don't know what was said in that fight. Holden might need to apologize too."

"Come on, Hughes. We all know how Luke can get. He's kind of a shoot-first-ask-questions-later type of person. I love him, but you know he can say some hurtful stuff when he's defensive."

"And we all know Holden can get a little ahead of himself being judgmental too," Casey was quick to point out, turning fully so he and Jade were facing each other. "Luke wouldn't get defensive without good reason. As scared as he was to tell them in the first place-"

"What, you think I don't know my own cousin?" Jade's eyes were narrowing now.

"Now who's getting defensive?" Casey shot back.

"Hey, you weren't there, Casey. I don't want to be in that house and watch the family split apart again because of stupid male pride. Luke made a mistake, and yeah, I think he realizes it and never meant to hurt anyone. But he's got to suck it up and own up to it now." Jade took a step closer to him. "You should know all about paying for mistakes."

"Wow, going for the ex-con burn yet again?" Casey didn't back away. "You really need some new material, Jade. Especially stuff that doesn't make you sound like a hypocrite."

"God, I am so sick of you tearing me down just because I'm one of the only people in this town that won't put up with your crap!" Jade threw her hands up in the air, coming dangerously close to shoving him.

Casey almost laughed, couldn't help the incredulous smile. "I could say the exact same damn thing about you!" They were closer together now. When did they move closer together?

Her eyes flashed again, and she raised a hand to hit him. Casey blocked it out of instinct, catching her arm. He had no idea what to do next, but he knew he couldn't let go. And when did they move closer together?

Neither of them had any idea who moved first, but suddenly they were as close as two bodies could physically get. And then they were kissing. And man, had Casey missed kissing like this. It was hard and rough and just this side of perfect, and it had that one thing he remembered saying he was missing lately. Spark.

But then he remembered who he was kissing, and Jade obviously did too. They sprung apart like the other person was an electric fence, and Casey decided to blame the spark he had felt on that. Because there was no way-

"I gotta go," Jade looked beyond shocked, fingers absent-mindedly touching her lips before she glanced at Casey again.

"Yeah. Yeah, I have to… yeah, I… me too," Casey needed someone to punch him in the face right now. Normally that person would be Jade, but now probably wasn't a good time for her to touch him.

They looked at each other again and then simultaneously turned in opposite directions and hurried away. At the last second before he reached the end of the alley, Casey turned back to Jade. And she did the same.

"Tell anyone about this and I'll kill you!" she warned with a hiss.

"I'd kill myself before I told anyone!" he snapped back. He ran off, really wishing that his friends weren't in the middle of an emotional crisis of their own. Damn, he really needed that punch in the face…

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So far, the website was a bust. Noah realized it would be easier if he knew just what he was looking for, but that was impossible. He had no idea who the people in his dream were. His mother in the doorway, the two neighborhood kids he was playing with… The dog's name was Romo, he remembered that now, but who owned him? A neighbor? His mother? Had the Colonel allowed them to have a dog at the time? Maybe it wasn't until later that he developed that hate for all living, breathing creatures…

Noah backtracked on another dead end link. This sucked. He had gotten his hopes up, that's what it was. In the movies, a detective searches through old newspapers and files, maybe the microviews, and discovers that one important clue that nobody else noticed before. Bogart would have figured this out by now. Cagney would already know the street name-

Franklin.

Noah stared down at his hands. They were shaking a little. Franklin. He had lived on Franklin Street. He had learned to recite his address over and over, his mom had taught him. Just in case, she said. He willed his hands to stop shaking so he could type the street name into the newspaper's search engine.

And… jackpot.

One of the first things that popped up was a picture of a family, parents and two kids. And Noah nearly choked on the library's stuffy air, because the two kids were the kids from his dream. He was sure of it. Positive. He searched the picture for any clue. There was a man with dark curly hair and a woman with flowing blonde hair. The two kids had dark blonde hair, a little darker than Luke's. And they were the kids he had been playing with in his dream. Did they own the dog?

He clicked on the picture, but no link or article popped up. He gritted his teeth, not yet willing to give into frustration. There had to be something, some way to find out their names. Maybe this woman knew his mother. Maybe the man served with the Colonel.

He stared at their faces again. So the boy and girl were brother and sister, that was something. He leaned in closer, as though something new would appear if he changed the angle of his view. They looked only a little older than what he remembered in his dream. And they all looked so sad…

He went back to the search engine, and on a whim typed in 'Franklin Street' again, as well as the words 'family,' 'child,' 'dog,' and 'Army.' Something had to happen from this, he was so close. He could feel it. The answers were right here. Just one more try and he could put this whole friggin' childhood mystery behind him.

But, as Luke was so fond of saying, the Universe was about to have its fun with him yet again. The next link that popped up had two pictures with it. One was the same photo of the family, and the second one nearly caused Noah to lose everything he had had for breakfast that morning.

It was the two kids again. And Romo. The kids were there with that big sheepdog, smiling for the camera. The girl was standing with one arm around the older boy's shoulders, and her other arm around a toddler. He looked to be about two years old, and he had dark and messy hair. And blue eyes.

Noah was looking at a picture of himself. He was sure of it. If he had thought his hands were shaking before…

He wiped at his now sweaty forehead, before slowly and hesitantly moving the mouse to hover over the picture. And then clicked on the linked article.

He stared at the headline for a full twenty seconds before realizing he had stopped breathing. He had to force himself to draw air into his lungs, and if he hadn't been counting he probably would have forgotten to let the air back out again. Part of him wanted to look around to see if he was causing a scene, if anyone noticed that the person in the far back cubicle by the card catalogue was having a mild breakdown, but he couldn't turn his head away from the computer screen.

The headline stared back at him, screaming at him. He wanted to scream back, make it not real. Because he was terrified of what this meant.

LOCAL FAMILY GIVING UP HOPE OF FINDING MISSING CHILD

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*Dramatic Music* TO BE CONTINUED!

Coming Up Next:

-Noah doesn't know what to do or who to talk to

-Lily's attempt to reconcile Luke and Holden doesn't go well

-Emily discovers the truth