Luke's knee bounced relentlessly as he sat next to Noah in the waiting room. His coffee had gone cold in his hands, but he didn't seem to notice or care. All he could do was watch the clock. Each ticking moment felt like the breath was being taken from him little by little.

"Calm down," Noah soothed, "I'm sure he's fine and it's not good for the baby for you to get stressed out."

"I am stressed Noah! My baby boy is in some operating room somewhere while the doctor pokes around inside of him," Luke almost shrieked.

Noah nodded, "I know, but he's going to be fine. Dr. Richardson would never let anything happen to him."

"What if something goes wrong? I know he explained the risks to us, but what if something happens. What if the scope he's using punctures an artery or gets stuck or-"

"Stop," Noah said gently but firmly, "Everything's going to be okay. Now just take a breath."

Luke nodded and sucked in some air before blowing it evenly out, "I know. It's just...Noah, he's never had surgery like this."

"It's not surgery. It's just a scope. There's no cutting or stitches involved," Noah placed his hand on Luke's bouncing knee and squeezed.

"You're right...I'm just...I'm worried," Luke admitted, "He's so young and...and this can change his life."

"I know," Noah agreed.

Luke sighed, "I know this is going to sound horrible, but a part of me...a part of me hopes he can't."

"Why?" The brunette frowned.

"Because he can just be a normal kid. One of the boys," Luke couldn't meet Noah's eyes, "He deserves to be normal. God knows our family is anything but normal. He deserves to be like everyone else."

"What are you talking about? He is like everyone else. He is normal. We're normal," Noah argued.

Shaking his head, Luke grabbed Noah's hand, "No, bubby, we're not. As much as we try to be the same, we're different. Every kid in his class have both a girl mom and boy dad. Our kids have boys who fill both roles. Not to mention the fact that he came out of me. If he can conceive...kids can be so cruel. He's already the boy with the freak parents...add that to the mix-"

"Hey, hey, hey!" Noah cupped Luke's chin, "I'm only going to say this once, so you better listen. We. Are. Normal. I'm proud of our family and I'm proud of the life we have built for our children. We worked hard to get to this place. I worked hard to get to this place. I'm happy with what we have. God Luke, most kids should be so lucky to grow up with you as their poppy."

Luke nodded, "And you as their daddy," He finally smiled and leaned over to steal a chaste kiss, "I love you."

"Same here," Noah smirked.

"If you had to choose, what do you hope the tests show?" Luke wondered after a second of silence.

Noah shrugged, "I don't know. Whatever the outcome is, it won't change anything."

"I know," Luke laced his fingers with his boyfriends and yawned.

"You should get some rest," Noah suggested, patting his lap in invitation for Luke to lay his head down.

The blonde shook his head, "I can't. Not with Atti-"

"Atti's in good hands. Come on Luke, you look exhausted and the baby needs you to be healthy," Noah pleaded.

After another yawn escaped his lips, Luke finally gave over and laid down. He sighed in satisfaction as Noah started to card his fingers through his hair.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Luke...Luke come on."

Groaning, Luke tried to snuggle his face deeper into the warmth.

"Luke...Luke, Dr. Richardson's here," Noah tried again.

"Hmmm," Luke mumbled groggily and opened his eyes. It took him a second to remember where he was.

Noah helped ease Luke up from his lap, "Dr. Richardson's here."

Luke cleared his throat and focused on the doctor, "How'd it go? Is Adam alright?" He rushed out.

"Everything went fine. Adam did well throughout the whole procedure. He's in recovery right now and in a few minutes we're going to move him to his own room and then you can see him," Dr. Richardson took a seat across from the couple.

"What did the test show?" Noah grabbed Luke's hand.

Dr. Richardson nodded and opened his chart, "Adam will be able to have children."

Luke sucked in a breath.

"Okay," Noah whispered, "We can deal with that."

"I know it's...a lot to handle, but it's good that Luke is his parent. That way Adam can see that it's perfectly natural and fine for me to have children."

"I know...it's just..." Luke stuttered.

Dr. Richardson nodded, "He's healthy and normal," He assured the blonde, "He's going to be fine."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Adam groaned as he rolled onto his side, he wasn't in any pain per se; just sore. And a part of him felt a little violated by the procedure. It hadn't hurt, it was just weird and humiliating.

"You in any pain, honey?" A nurse asked as she adjusted his IV.

Adam shook his head.

"Good. You're parents will be here in a few minutes," She told him as she wrote down a few notes in her chart, "There's a button over there. Press it if you need me."

"Thanks," Adam said shyly, as he pulled the blanket a little tighter around him. His eyes focused on the needle embedded into his arm. This whole experience was just so new. He had never been in a hospital as a patient before. Never had any broken bones or emergencies that required it. He knew that his poppy on the other hand had spent a lot of time in hospitals as a teenager with his kidney. In a way he considered himself lucky to not have had to be in this position before.

"Knock, knock."

Adam looked up to see his parents walk into the room.

"How are you feeling?" Luke took a seat on the side of the bed and immediately raised the back of his hand to Adam's forehead.

"Okay," Adam nodded.

Noah sat in the chair next to his bed, "Are you hungry? Thirsty?"

"No."

"Alright," Luke nodded, "Honey, you're going to have to stay here overnight, but dad and I will be with you."

Noah nodded in agreement, "And anything you want tonight is yours. I can run down to Old Town and get you a burger and fries from Al's if you want. Maybe even rent some DVD's."

Shrugging, Adam pulled himself into a semi-sitting position, "Maybe, but first I want to know what the tests showed."
"You should get some rest first," Luke pushed the teens hair back from his face.

"No, I want to know," Adam protested.

Noah cleared his throat, "Okay. Dr. Richardson said that it will be possible for you to have children if you want."

"So I'm like poppy?"

"Yeah, baby, you are," Luke's voice was low and gentle, "Do you have any questions for us?"


Adam took in a breath. A part of him had prepared for that answer. He knew it was more likely then not that he could have children, but hearing it out loud. Finding out hat it was true had thrown him slightly, "Do you feel it?"

"Feel what?" Luke's continued to speak softly.

"That you can get pregnant? Can you feel it all the time?" Adam wanted to know.

Luke shook his head, "No. The only time I can feel anything different is when I'm pregnant. Other than that, you don't feel any different then you did yesterday."

Yawning, Adam nodded.

"Now it's time for you to get some sleep," Luke ordered gently.

"Okay," Adam let out another yawn, "You said you'll be here all night?"

"Yeah," Luke nodded, "While you nap, dad's going to go get some food and movies."

"Get the new 'Hulk' movie," Adam smirked, his eyes almost falling shut.

Noah groaned, "The new one? You have no taste in movies, they should have stopped at after Bill Bixby played him, but now who's playing him?"

"Shuddup," Adam argued, "Zac Efron looks freaking awesome as 'The Incredible Hulk'."

"My son, why couldn't you pick up my film gene?" Noah laughed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"My God, I can't believe I just sat through two hours of that crap," Noah moaned in a whisper.

Luke smiled down at Adam who had fallen asleep with his head on Luke's shoulder, "Because you love your son," He whispered, "Now come on, help me move him."

Between the two of them they were successfully able to maneuver Adam into a comfortable position. Standing up, Luke wrapped his arms around Noah and just held on for a few seconds before pulling back.

"What was that for?" Noah smiled, going about trashing the empty food containers.

"Did I ever tell you how great of a dad you really are?" Luke inwardly chuckled as he noticed a slight blush creep up Noah's cheeks, "You really are, Noah. You're father was a sh|tty example and you could have turned out just like him, but you didn't. You love your kids so much and you'd do anything for them. It's just...you amaze me."

"It's...I'm-" He stuttered.

"Don't sell yourself short. Just accept it," Luke chuckled.

Noah finally nodded in concession, "Okay."

"Okay," Luke repeated with a smile.

"Ummm," Cleared a throat and both Luke and Noah turned to see who it was.

Luke frowned, "Joey? What are you doing here?"

Joey shrugged and his eyes found the floor.

"Joey?" Noah tried again, standing up, "What are you doing here?"

"I...I'm sorry," Joey stuttered, a bit of fear in his eyes as he adjusted his hood lower onto his head, "I-I'll just go."

Noah took a few more steps until he was in front of the teen, "How did you get here?"

"I...I walked. Umm, Atti told me what was going on and I got the nurse to tell me his room...I just really, really needed to talk to him," Joey hurried out.

"Well, Adam's asleep right now. Is there anything we can do for you?" Luke asked softly.

Joey hesitated for a second before turning around, "N-no...no. I'll just-just go."

"Wait, at least let me drive you home," Noah reached for Joey's arm to stop him from leaving the room. The action caused his hood to fall away and as he turned to face Luke and Noah, they both let out collective gasps.

Luke was in front of the boy in a flash, his fingers gently prodding the teens swollen, black eye, "Honey, what happened?"

"N-nothing...I...I," Before Joey knew what was happening, he had tears cascading down his face.

Wasting now time, Luke pulled him into his arms in attempt to soothe and pacify his sobs, "Shhh...it's alright," He whispered.

"It's...it's not," Joey hiccupped into Luke's shoulder, "It never will be."

"Come on, let's sit down, okay?" Noah suggested helping Luke to guide the trembling boy to a chair, "Do you want some water?"

Joey shook his head as he tried to calm himself down.

"Do you want to tell us what happened?" Luke softly brushed Joey's hair away from his face and crouched down in front of the boy.

"I can't," Joey whispered, "I can't."

"Why can't you?" Noah crouched down next to Luke.

Joey hiccupped again, "It'll...it'll ruin everything. I'm sorry...I should have..."

"Of course you should have. I'm glad you came here, to us," Luke was trying to be as gentle as possible, "But we really need to know why you came here by yourself at night."

"I'm going to go call your parents, okay? Let them know that you're alright," Noah whispered.

"No!" Joey screeched, half lunging out of his chair to stop him, "No, please!"
A horrified expression fell over Noah's face and he knew. He saw himself in Joey's place at his age and he knew, "Your parents are the one's who did this to you."

"What?" Luke gasped.

"Not...not both of them...just...just my...dad," Joey whispered.

Noah nodded in understanding, "Let's go somewhere and talk."

Shooting him a questioning look, Luke opened his mouth.

"It's okay," Noah said before the blonde could say anything.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Here," Noah passed the teen a paper cup filled with water and a pack of ice before he took a seat opposite him.

"Thanks," Joey mumbled, taking a tentative sip of the liquid.

Noah nodded, "You know...when I was your age, my father used to...hit me."

Finally raising his eyes, Joey looked at him.

"It was over little things. I didn't make my bed right or I didn't cut the grass face enough. Sometimes it was because I didn't get an A in school, but you know what? It wasn't my fault he hit me. I didn't deserve it, no matter how much he told me I did," Noah confessed softly.

"Did it...did it hurt?"

Noah took a breath, "The first time it didn't. I was just shocked, but after that it did."

"Oh."

"Joey, how long has this been going on?" Noah asked gently.

Joey shook his head, "This was the first time."

"You don't have to lie to me," The brunette promised.

"I'm not," Joey shook his head again, "It's because-because I told him something."

"What did you tell him?" Noah encouraged him on.

Joey shook his head a third time.

"I won't judge you, I promise. You're safe with me," Noah promised.

Lifting his head, Joey wiped his eye, "I told him that I was gay."