Everything seemed to be in a blur… He could tell his right eye was getting swollen, and his chest hurt every time he tried to breathe. He heard a voice

“Noah?”

Ahhh, Luke… he could see the door being opened and Luke coming inside

“My god… Noah!!!!”

Maybe he could die right there, at that moment… He wouldn’t really mind if it happened like this… Luke was holding him up in his arms; he was running his hands through his hair… Noah looked up at him and tried to smile. Yes, it wouldn’t be so bad, in Luke’s arms…

“You brought breakfast… you did, right?”

“Shit, what the hell happened? Who did that to you? I should call an ambulance”

“No… no ambulance… I am fine…”

“Oh, would you stop it with that! Who…?”

“Can’t you guess? He calls himself an honorable man”

“Your dad…?”

Noah lifted one of his hands and touched Luke’s cheek

“You brought breakfast…”

“Of course I did, silly man… I told you I still care about you. I am not giving up again”

“You should… you are so beautiful…”

He thought he saw Luke smiling

“You too. Do you think you could stand up?”

“I don’t know…”

“Let’s try, babe”

Noah smiled at that

“You never called me that…”

Luke smiled again

“Well, get used to it. Hold onto me, okay?”

“That’s easy…”

Luke helped him stand up. Noah couldn’t help but groan… his head was throbbing and his ribs were on fire

“I can’t believe your father did that to you”

“He says he rather had a dead son than a gay one”

“He almost got what he wanted”

He was standing up, now.

“We should go to the hospital, Noah”

“I know… I think I have a broken rib…”

“Let’s go, can you walk?”

“Only very slowly”

They got to the hospital and just as they were getting in the ER they could see a woman smoking. Noah smiled

“My god, aren’t you Noah Mayer?”

“Only pieces of me, hello doctor”

“What the hell happened to you?”

“It’s a long story”

“Let’s go inside, I’ll take a look”

They went inside and she led them to a room.

“Can you take your shirt off?”

“I can try”

“I’ll help you, babe”

Noah saw the Doctor smiling and winking at him. Luke helped him with the shirt

“Thank you, would you mind waiting outside?”

“Of course…”

Luke left the room

“He’s cute”

Noah smiled. He liked his doctor; she was very nice and friendly

“Yes, he is”

“What’s his name?”

“Luke”

“Oh, my… the Luke?”

“You have good memory, doc.”

“You don’t go through medical school without a good memory, believe me”

Noah smiled

“Ouch, my face is killing me”

“Nothing broken there, can’t say the same about your ribs”

“Shit”

“Who did this to you, Noah?”

“A bigot”

“What? If this is a gay bashing I am calling the police!”

“Hold down your horses, doc. It was my father”

“Your father?”

“Yep… he doesn’t like having a gay son, a dead one, on the other hand…”

“You must be kidding…”

“No… I wish”

“I can call the police even if it’s your father”

“No, that’s okay”

“And Luke? After all this time he just happened to be here?”

“That definitively is a long story”

“I am going to see if I can get you into x-rays right away, I am afraid you have 2 broken ribs. It will only take a minute”

“Can you tell Luke to come inside for a sec?”

The doctor smiled

“Okay, should I knock when I come back?”

Noah would have laughed if his ribs weren’t killing him

“You are wicked, doc, nice but wicked”

The doctor left the room and Noah saw Luke coming in

“How are you?”

“I’m fine”

Luke put his hand in Noah’s forehead

“Anything broken?”

“A couple of ribs, I think”

“Shit, honey…”

Noah moved away from his touch

“Did I hurt you?”

“No… Thank you for helping me come here, Luke, you don’t have to stay”

“What…?”

“You can go, now”

“I don’t want to go”

Noah couldn’t look at him, that was more painful than his father beating him up.

“Look at me, Noah, what the hell is this?”

“This is me telling you to go home…”

“Why?”

“It doesn’t matter, why”

“It does to me, Noah. I told you. If you want me to go you are going to have to look at me and tell me that you don’t care about me”

“I am just asking you, okay? Please”

“I am asking you too, please… at least the truth… could you give me that?”

“Luke”

“No… I love you, I do, Noah, and I need you in my life… we can be together if you want to. With Aaron… the three of us together, we could be a family… if you only let yourself be loved…”

Noah closed his eyes

“You think I haven’t thought about that? About you and Aaron?”

“You could have it!”

“No”

“Why?”

“Because I can’t, Luke”

“Shit… you just don’t want to try, as always“

“I know… I am a coward”

“No, you are not, you just act like one”

“Look at me”

Luke looked at him; he was all he’d ever wanted.

“Look at my face, Luke”

Luke could see the black eye, and bruises on his neck…

“You want Aaron near me? Near my father?”

“What…?”

“Answer me, do you want your son near someone who hates his own son? Someone who would rather kill me than see me happy with you?”

“But”

“He tried to kill you once, and he’s tried to kill me… you want Aaron near that? Think about it, Luke”

Luke didn’t know what to say. He didn’t want Aaron near the colonel, but… he needed Noah in his life

“You have to go back to Oakdale with Aaron, it’s the best for you and your son”

“And you…?”

“Who cares”

“I do… “

“I’ll be fine”

“I told you to stop that, you know I don’t believe you”

Noah smiled and touched Luke’s lips

“Last night… having supper with you will last me 10 more years”

“You listen to me. 10 years ago you didn’t give up on yourself, you gave up on both of us. I didn’t want you to fight for me, you hear me? I wanted you to fight for us, for our family… if you love me, if you want us to be a family, do something, damn it…”

“It’s not that easy”

“I know it’s not, but is it worth it?”

“Look”

“No, you look… I am going back to Oackdale with Aaron tomorrow. If you want us you can come and fight for a chance… I am tired… And you are right. I have a son and I can’t put him through this…”

Noah couldn’t say anything; he just looked at Luke

“But, Noah… do something for me… prove to me that the man who did this to you didn't win. That… that you and me are stronger than he’ll ever be”

Noah raised his hand to touch Luke but stopped at mere inches of his face. Luke held Noah’s hand and put it in his own cheek

“And I want you to remember something… I love you: I will always do it so I’ll be waiting… 5 years, 10, 20… I don’t care how much it takes for you to admit that we belong together, I will be there… because I need you in my life”

Noah could see tears in Luke’s eyes

“I am just hoping that you’ll need me as much as I need you… because if you do you’ll come…”

He kissed Noah. He could feel Luke’s tears in his lips, and his pain… he moved his hand to put it in Luke’s neck, but Luke moved away and left the room.