Title: Promise of Tomorrow 2 Rating: R/ NC- 17 (later chapters) Summary: An unexpected surprise changes Luke and Noah's life forever Characters: Luke, Allison, Dr. Hughes, and mention of Noah 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.

Hospitals and waiting rooms. Luke hated them. Hated the uncomfortable chairs, the ticking of the clock, the pale walls, the dark carpets. He even hated the way that the other patients in the waiting room tried not to make it noticable that they were staring at each other, wondering why the hell everyone else was there.

He sighed and pulled out his cell phone. Noah had texted him a few times already from his various classes. Silly little texts that Luke would find extremely cute if he weren't so damn nervous.

"Luke Snyder," A woman called and he quickly shut his phone, stuffing it back into his pocket.

Silently he followed her into an examining room.

"A nurse will be in to get your vitals shortly," The woman nodded curtly and shut the door.

"Great," Luke mumbled and made himself as comfortable as possible on the paper sheet that covered the bed. It crinkled every time he moved.

"Hi, my names Allison, I just need to - Luke!" Allison stopped dead in her tracks in the doorway.

Luke felt his heart sink.

"What's going on? Are you okay? You're not drinking again are you?" Allison asked quietly as she shut the door behind her.

Shaking his head, Luke refused to meet her eyes.

Allison put a comforting hand on his arm, "Do you want me to get another nurse to do this?" It was normally against code for a nurse to take care of a patient that they knew, but Allison didn't want to leave Luke if he wanted her there.

Luke shook his head.

"Okay," She said gently, going into nurse mode, "Well I need to get your weight and vitals, okay? So why don't you just come over here to the scale."

Luke followed her instructions and ten minutes later, Allison had his blood pressure, weight, height and temperature.

"I need to ask you a couple of questions," Allison paused, "What brings you here today?"

Clearing his throat, Luke hesitated, "I...uh...have been having some stomach...problems."

"Can you define stomach problems? Nausea, vomitting..." She coaxed.

"I...would rather not," Luke finally looked her in the eyes, "Until Dr. Hughes gets here."

Allison nodded, "Luke you know you can tell me. Whatever you say is strictly confidential."

"I know. I'd just prefer to wait, Ally." Luke tried to smile, but it never did quite reach his lips.

She nodded again, backing off slightly, "Alright. Put this on and I'll be right back with Dr. Hughes," Allison handed him a hospital gown.

With a trembling hand, Luke grasped the material and watched as Allison left the room, pulling the curtain around the bed to give him a little more privacy. He stood motionless for a few minutes before his brain finally told him to move and he quickly undressed, leaving his boxers on, and pulled on the thin gown. He settled back onto the bed and tried to perserve as much modesty as he could.

Three knocks came shortly, followed by the door opening and closing and the curtain being moved to reveal Dr. Hughes and Allison standing there.

"Luke," Dr. Hughes greeted.

"Dr. Hughes," Luke responded quietly.

Dr. Hughes took a few steps closer to the blonde, "So Allison tells me you're having some stomach problems. Do you want to tell me about them?"

Luke swallowed hard, "I've...I've been throwing up everyday for the past week."

"Okay, why don't you lie back and I'll take a look," Dr. Hughes smiled and walked over to the in-room sink and thoroughly washed his hands.

Doing as he was told, he carefully layed back and tried to calm himself.

"Tell me if it hurts when I put pressure here," Dr. Hughes said as he pushed down near Luke's kidney.

"No," Luke shook his head.

"Okay, here?" Dr. Hughes continued pressing around Luke's adomen, receiving negative responses to see if there was pain.

Quietly, Luke looked up at Dr. Hughes, "Do you remember what you told me when I had my kidney transplant?"

Dr. Hughes's nodded.

"Well, I think...I think I might not have lost the ability," Luke confessed in a whisper.

"Hmmm..." Dr. Hughes nodded, "Well you know your organs were damaged during the infection. Do you think you are?"

Luke had to look away as he nodded.

"With Noah Mayer?" Dr. Hughes asked.

Another nod.

"Did you guys use protection?"

Luke nodded, "But the, uh, condom broke."

A sharp intake of breath came from behind the two men from Allison. She finally started to put together what was going on.

"Luke, I need you to take this and give us a urine sample. Allison will run the test and we'll be able to confirm or put to rest your suspicions," The doctor handed a sample cup to Luke, "There's a restroom down the hall."

Wordlessly, Luke took the container for Dr. Hughes and made his way out of the hospital room.

*****

Tick...tick...tick...tick...

Luke wanted to rip the clock off the wall.

Tick...tick...tick...tick...

Couldn't it just stop ticking?

Tick...tick...tick...tick...

Luke heard his phone beep from his pants pocked and he slowly walked over to his clothes and pulled out his phone. Another text from Noah. Where r u? Stopped by ur house. Lily said u went out. Love u.<3 Call me

He deleted the message and returned his phone to his pocket. He couldn't think about anything right now except the results of that test. The test.

Tick...tick...tick...tick...

Looking up, he realized that if he stood on the bed, he could probably reach the clock and then he could pull it off the wall and throw it on the ground. There was a pole for the IV drip next to his bed. He could probably pick that up and smash in the face of the clock. The arms would come next. He'd bend them and they'd snap off, stopping them from ever ticking again...

"Luke?"

All thoughts of how he could kill the clock left his head as he saw Dr. Hughes walk in followed by Allison.

"Luke, we ran the test twice just to be sure," Dr. Hughes sat on the rolling stool in front of the bed, "You're pregnant."

Luke felt his heart stop and his whole body go numb for a moment.

"I know this is a shock, but the good thing is right now you're healthy," Dr. Hughes went on.

"How far along am I?" Luke asked, his voice sounded more like a gasp then anything.

Dr. Hughes cleared his throat, "You said that the condom broke. How long ago was that?"

"Umm, it was probably six weeks ago," Luke bit his lip.

"And you and Noah always use protection?"

Luke nodded.

"Is he the only person you're sexually active with?" Dr. Hughes looked at his chart.

"Of course," Luke nodded again.

Dr. Hughes made a note in his chart, "Well I can't determine anything until your first scan. I can do one right now if you'd like or you can come back."

"I...I think...I think I should tell...Noah first," Luke ran a shakey hand through his hair.

"There is one more thing I need to do before you go," Dr. Hughes stopped for a second, "I'm going to need you to take off your boxers and lie back again."

"Why?" Luke subconciously pulled his knees to his chest.

"When men become pregnant, a birth channel forms underneath the skin between the testicles and the anus. During the eighth week of pregnancy that channel needs to be opened by outpatient surgery. I need to feel and make sure it's developing properly or it could lead to problems for you," Dr. Hughes explained.

Luke let out a breath, "What if I...get rid of it?" He couln't even believe he had asked that. There was no way he could do that. Even if Noah didn't want it, Luke could never do that.

"The channel would still need to be opened to prevent infection for a few weeks."

Nodding, the blonde did as he was told and felt Dr. Hughe's rough hand press against him. He felt him feel around for a few seconds, "Well everything seems to be okay. You can put your underwear back on."

Luke quickly pulled his boxers back up.

"Luke, I know this must be alot to take in. I'm going to give you some pamphelets on male pregnancy," Dr. Hughes motioned to Allison who handed him an envelope of brochures, "You can get dressed now. I would like to see you again within a week so we can do the scan and discuss more what's going to happen, alright?"

"Okay," Luke took the envelope and clutched it tightly in his hands.

How was he going to tell Noah? How could this happen? Noah was only 21 and he only 20. How could they be parents? They didn't even live together. Noah had his whole future ahead of him. What were they going to do?
But he had to tell Noah. Noah had a right to know. This baby growing inside him was part of his boyfriend.

Fuck.