Title: Business or Pleasure? Chapter: 15- The Call Rating: PG-13 Summary: Noah's father makes him end it with Luke. Luke goes to the hotel to see Noah. Characters: Genre: AU Drama Warnings: Some language Disclaimer: This site is no way associated with "As the World Turns", CBS, P&G, or Van Hansis and Jake Silbermann. This is not for profit. No copyright infringement is intended. Authors submit and write their own work.

Noah splashed cold water on himself from the sink of his bathroom and looked at his reflection in the mirror. He touched the tender, bruising area where his father had hit him on his cheekbone. It was swollen and already turning yellow.

Noah had changed into a set of new clothes and brushed his teeth. He tried not to think about the force of his father’s blow as he landed his fist on his face. He tried not to think about how the Colonel looked staring down at Noah from above, maniacal and disgusted, like he would have no trouble kicking Noah’s face in if he was angry enough.

The thought of his father being so violent and terrorizing sent a shiver down Noah’s spine. He dried his face on a hand towel looked at his reflection once more in the mirror. Had he changed since being with Noah? Did being gay really make him look physically different, different enough to enrage his own father?

No. The man was crazy. There was no other excuse for his behavior other than he was a bigot who went off the deep end at the shocking news. Still . . . Noah’s revelation was, in fact, a pretty hard blow—it would have been hard for anyone, most of which his own father.

And yet there was so much hatred, so much anger that had erupted into the Colonel, far more than when he found out Noah simply wasn’t going to business school. He might never see to reason or hear Noah’s side of the argument. If the Colonel was as stubborn about Noah’s orientation as he was about most other things in life, Noah knew he would never be at peace.

Noah threw the hand towel on the floor and decided he would do something about it. He picked his phone up on the dresser near his bed and dialed Luke’s number. Noah moved to the other side of the room and looked out the window as if searching for some kind of salvation.

“Hello?” Luke said on the third ring.

Noah gulped. He hadn’t known what he was going to say, much less how he wasn’t going to sound like a hysterical idiot.

“Luke?”

Noah heard him sigh on the other end of the line, and subsequently turned when he heard someone coming in the room.

“Thank God,” Luke said over the phone, “I was getting worried about you.”

Colonel Mayer looked at his son, and Noah stared back with the phone pressed tightly to his ear.

“Who are you calling?” the Colonel asked.

“Noah?” Luke said on the line.

“No one,” Noah said, holding tight to the phone.

The Colonel moved to his son and Noah felt himself inching further away, a rat trapped in a corner. “Give me the phone,” his father said, holding out his hand,

“Noah, are you there?” Luke asked.

Noah closed his eyes to keep the tears from falling down his face. His one chance at escape, his one opportunity to call for help now seemed to be literally slipping through his fingers as he handed his father the phone. Noah could hear Luke’s voice on the other end calling out to him even as his father pressed it to his ear to listen.

The Colonel looked at his son and Noah opened his eyes, feeling his father’s gaze. He snapped the phone shut, cutting Luke off and handed it back to Noah.

“Who is he?”

Noah pursed his lips and shook his head. “No one.”

The Colonel took another step towards Noah. “Is this the boy you were . . . did you see him last night?”

Noah made no reply. He grasped the phone lightly, as if his father’s touch had tainted it somehow.

“Call him back,” the Colonel said.

“What?”

“Call him back,” his father said, “and tell him it’s over.”

Noah shook his head vigorously. “No,” he said.

Noah,” the Colonel said, his voice unusually calm and soft. “You’re in a very fragile state right now. You’re confused—”

“I’m not confused,” Noah said.

“You’re angry with me,” his father continued, speaking the only truth he had uttered all day, “and you’re looking for someone to vent your feelings to.”

“Dad—”

“But talking to this boy now,” the Colonel in his calm voice, “would only hurt you.” He put his hands on Noah’s shoulder and his son flinched. “You need to stay away from him in order to get back to your normal self.”

Noah jerked away from him and shook his head again. “No!” he cried.

“Noah.” The Colonel was still calm, but not there was an icy, foreboding look in his eye as he tried to explain to his son. “I don’t want him . . . corrupting you anymore.” Noah’s father paused, looking his son over. “And if he comes near you, I will see to it that he pays dearly.”

The air escaped from Noah’s lungs as he looked at his controlled, oddly tranquil father speak of doing harm to another human being. Had he heard right? Was the Colonel crazy enough to hurt Luke, or was he merely being ambiguous to scare him?

“What are you talking about?” Noah asked breathlessly.

The Colonel stared at him for a moment, seemingly weighing in on the impact of his threat. He nodded his head to the phone in Noah’s hand. “Call him,” he said.

Noah put a hand over his mouth to keep his lip from quivering. He turned to face the window and found himself wanting to jump out of it, to fly away and escape the horrible, nightmarish situation he found himself in.

Luke. He had to protect Luke. As much as he didn’t want to admit it, maybe it was the best thing for all of them. Luke would be safe and the Colonel would be off his back until they got back to the States.

And then what? Noah wondered.

He turned to his father, his tear-filled eyes pleading helplessly. “Please don’t make me do this,” Noah said.

“You’ve got five seconds, or I’m calling him for you,” the Colonel said flatly.

Noah squeezed the phone in his hand and sniffled, fighting back his tears. He turned to the window again and slowly dialed Luke’s number, feeling with every press of a button that he was tightening the noose around his neck even harder.

Luke picked up on the first ring. “Noah, are you okay?”

Hearing Luke’s voice made Noah break down completely, strangling him in a fit of sobs. He put his hand on his head and glanced over his shoulder as his father watched him.

“What’s wrong?” Luke asked. “What happened?”

“Luke,” Noah began. He cleared his throat to ease the tremble in his voice. “I can’t be with you anymore.” There was a millisecond of a pause, and in that time alone, Noah felt the world collapsing on him.

“Wait, what are you talking about?” Luke said. His voice had gone from worried to panic-stricken in less than three seconds.

Noah looked at his father again. “He knows,” he said.

Another pause from Luke. Noah saw him pacing in his apartment, trying to piece together everything he was telling him. “What happened?" Luke asked. "What did he do to you?”

“It’s too complicated,” Noah said, only half-lying.

“Noah, this is insane!” Luke cried. “He doesn’t own you, just walk out!”

Noah saw a look in his father’s eye, one that made him realize that he would, indeed, hurt Luke physically if he had ever tried to make contact with him. He knew he had to drive Luke away.

“Look, I don’t want to see you anymore, okay?” Noah yelled. “Just leave me alone!”

“Noah, tell me the truth, tell me what’s going on—”

“I have to hang up now,” Noah said, trying to drown out Luke’s pleading, desperate voice.

“Noah, talk to me!” Luke cried. “Please, tell me what’s going on!”

Noah snapped his phone shut and let out a sob. He let the phone fall to the carpet and put his forehead against the window, his grief swallowing him completely.

The Colonel patted Noah’s shoulder. “Good boy,” he said.

Noah felt a rage blooming inside of him, a thousand flaming arrows shooting from his gut. He wanted to kill him. He wanted to throw his father on the floor and punch his lights out for making him give up the one thing he loved more than anything.

Colonel Mayer took his hand away and bent over to pick up Noah’s phone. “We’ll talk later,” he said to his son, turning away.

Noah heard his heavy footsteps on the carpet as he walked to the door and resisted the urge to turn around and give him a piece of his mind. He knew it would have fallen on deaf ears.

The Colonel exited the room and Noah was left standing by the window, tears streaming down his cheeks and a greasy sort of bile churning in his stomach. His mouth became water and he made a run for the bathroom, making it in time for the toilet as he threw up what was left of his happiness, his hope, and his life.

0000000

Luke walked down the street quickly, pushing past people as he dialed Noah’s number for the eighth time. Voicemail. He took a corner and headed east down the sidewalk, imagining the worst for Noah as flashes of threats, of harsh words and menacing glances danced before his eyes. His heart pounded in his dry throat; he had never felt so scared for anyone in his entire life.

Please, Noah, please be okay.

As he made his way to Noah’s hotel, he tried not to think about the sound of his lover’s voice on the other end of the phone—how afraid and hopeless he sounded, as though the Colonel were holding a gun to his head and forcing him to tell Luke those horrible things. The thought of Colonel Mayer doing this to his own son gave Luke the courage to walk through the hotel doors and potentially rescue Noah from whatever persecution he was under, whether he wanted it or not.

“Excuse me,” Luke said to a woman at one of the check-in desks.

“Oui, monsieur?”

“I need to know the room number of a friend, his name is Noah Mayer”

“Are you a guest in this hotel?” she asked

Noah bit his lip. “No,” he said.

“I am sorry, sir,” the woman said, “we are not allowed to disclose that information to the public.”

“I understand,” Luke said, keeping his cool, “but this is important, he might be in trouble.”

“I am sorry, monsieur,” she said. “If you like, I can call the room for you to check up on them.”


Luke considered this for a moment, looking out over the lobby. He stopped when he saw Sofia near the elevator with two uniformed men, one who was American. It must have been Noah’s father.

Luke began moving over to them, then stopped. The Colonel didn’t know what Luke looked like, but if he wanted Noah’s room number, Sofia might have been his safest bet. He cleared his throat and straightened himself, walking over to Sofia as a Frenchman might.

French lessons, don’t fail me now, he prayed.

Noah tapped the young woman on the shoulder. She turned and looked at him, her eyes widening.

“Sofia, mon ami!” Luke kissed her cheek. “Comment allez-vous?”

Sofia looked at her father and the Colonel and smiled at Luke. “Bonjour! Tres bien, merci. Et vous?”

“Sofia,” her father said, “who is your friend?”

Sofia turned to her father. “Oh, how rude!” she said with a laugh. “Pardon—Papa, Colonel Mayer, this is . . .” she paused. “Antoine Lucian, he is a friend of mine from university.”

“Bonjour,” Luke said, shaking the General’s hand.

“C'est mon père,” Sofia said, pointing to her father, “Et Colonel Mayer d'Amérique.”

Luke took the Colonel’s hand and grasped it tightly, squeezing him until the man pulled away sharply and laughed. “Quite a strong grip, you have there,” Colonel Mayer said.

“Would you please excuse me?” Sofia asked, taking Luke’s arm.

The gentlemen pardoned her and Sofia led Luke into a nearby elevator. Once the doors were closed and they were by themselves, Luke turned to Sofia.

“Where’s Noah?” he asked.

“I do not know, Luke. His father has forbidden anyone to see him. He has been in a terrible mood all day.”

“Which room is he in?” Luke asked.

“Ah, I know!” Sofia pushed the button for Noah’s floor and looked at Luke worriedly. “I am very afraid for him,” she said. “Do you think the Colonel has done something?”

Luke shook his head, his heart beating faster with every floor they passed. “I don’t know. But I intend to find out.”

To be continued