Title: Promise of Tomorrow 1 Rating: R/ NC- 17 (later chapters) Summary: An unexpected surprise changes Luke and Noah's life forever Characters: Luke, Noah, Lily, Noah's roommate Genre: Future, Drama, Romance, Angst, AU Warnings: MPREG, spoilers through 2/19/09, Strong 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.

For the third time in two hours, Luke found himself rushing to the bathroom in Noah's dorm room. Luckily every room had a built in restroom so only Noah and his roommate were privy to the sounds of Luke dry heaving into the toilet.

"You okay?" Noah asked gently kneeling next to his boyfriend and rubbing comforting circles on his back.

Luke shot him a death glare, "Do I," He stopped for a moment to swallow down another bit of nausea, "Look okay to you?"

"Maybe it was something you ate?" Noah suggested, getting up to dampen a tissue and gently wipe Luke's mouth.

Shrugging, Luke leaned his head against the tile wall, "Maybe I'm coming down with something."

"Do you want me to take you home?"

The blonde closed his eyes for a second, trying to mentally settle his stomach, "Umm, that would probably be best. I'm sure your roommate doesn't appreciate me throwing up my guts here."

"He's fine. It's you that I'm worried about," Noah ran the back of his hand across Luke's forehead, "You don't feel like you have a fever. Let me go grab you a bottle of water and then we'll go. Wait here."

Luke wanted to come back with some witty reply, but his stomach ached and he felt a headache coming on. He had been feeling like this for the past week and had chalked it up to a touch of the flu, but now he wasn't so sure. Especially since it hit him around the same time everyday and usually went away after a few hours.

"Try to take a few sips of this," Noah came back into the bathroom and held the bottle up to Luke's lips.

"I can do this myself," Luke shot back with a tone of irritation.

Rolling his eyes, Noah gave his boyfriend a look, "I know you can, but let me take care of you right now."

Sighing in defeat, but also extremely touched by Noah's words, Luke took a tentative drink of the cold liquid. It burned his raw throat as he swallowed, causing him to cough up a little.

"Here," Noah passed the bottle to Luke before helping him to his feet, "You should probably see a doctor, just to make sure it's nothing serious."

Luke nodded and allowed himself to be guided out of the dorm room.

*****

Lily smiled from her spot on the sofa when she saw her son and Noah come in, but it soon faded when she noticed Luke looking even paler then usual. He was being supported by Noah.

"Everything okay?"

Noah nodded, "Yeah. Luke got sick at my place, so I figured the best thing to do was bring him home."

"I'm fine," Luke protested as he was led to the sofa and forced to sit down.

"Honey?" Lily prodded.

"I'm fine, really mom. Noah's just overreacting. I just felt a little nauseous," Luke gave Noah a half smile.

Sighing, Noah turned to Lily, "Throwing up three times in a few hours is not overreacting."

"Thank you Noah," Lily smiled at him, "I'm glad Luke has someone to look out for him."

Noah nodded, "I'm glad I can be there for him. Someone needs to take care of him when he forgets to."

"Hello? Still in the room," Luke stated glaring at both his mother and his boyfriend.

The brunette chuckled, "How could I forget? Well, I should get going. I have a midterm tomorrow and I really should study for it. I'll call you later to see how your feeling," Noah bent down and kissed Luke's cheek, "I Love you."

"I love you too," Luke couldn't help but smile. It always thrilled him every time Noah said he loved him. No matter how crappy he felt, those three words could brighten his day.

"Do you need anything?" Lily broke through his thoughts.

Luke shook his head, "No. I think I'm going to go try and get some sleep."

Lily smiled tenderly at him, "Okay. I'll come check on you in a little while, honey."

"Mom, you don't have to do that," Luke shook his head.

"I know, but I'm your mother, Luke. I worry about you," She gently rubbed his arm as he passed her.

*****

Once in his room, Luke paced and paced. Back and forth, back and forth. He had a suspicion as to what brought on his sickness, but it couldn't be true. It just couldn't. After his kidney transplant they told him that it wouldn't be possible anymore. They told him he didn't have that ability anymore. That the kidney infection he had developed had affected him. But how else could his sudden clockwork vomit spree be explained?

At first he had thought that it may have been the Chineese food that he and Noah had the previous weeks. Maybe something undercooked or a bad vegetable or something. Yet, it didn't go away. In fact it had gotten a little worse.

This couldn't be happening. It couldn't. They were finally together in every sense of the word. They were happy. Well, as happy as they could be in lieu of Reg's death. Something they both still dealt with, even thought Luke had finally agreed to give up the witch hunt on Elwood at Noah's insistence.

With a shaking hands, Luke finally found his nerve and took his cell phone out of his pocket, dialing the hospital.

"Hello, Dr. Hughe's office," A perky voice answered.

Luke cleared his throat, "Uh, yeah, I need to make an appointment."

"What's your name, sir?"

"Luke Snyder," Luke wiped his palm along his pant leg.

"And what are you coming in for Mr. Snyder?"

Luke froze, "I'm...I'm having some stomach problems."

"Okay. Well, Dr. Hughes has a cancellation tomorrow at 10AM, if you can make it."

Tomorrow. So soon. He'd know if what he suspected was true. God he couldn't go...not this early. He wasn't ready. How could he possibly be ready?

"Sir?" The girl asked again.

"Uh, yeah, sure. Tomorrow," Luke didn't wait for her to reply as he disconnected the call.

Tomorrow. Luke never dreaded it as much as he did right then.