Title: Snyder vs. Mayer Chapter: Chapter 21 Rating: PG Summary: Luke gives Lucinda, Lily and Holden their letters. Characters: Luke, Noah, Mark, Lucinda, Lily, Holden Genre: Angst, Drama Warnings: None 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.

Not too much later - Noah, Luke and Mark arrived at Luke's parent's house. Luke held his two letters in his hands as Noah pulled into the driveway. He felt nervous, but not as much as he did a couple of hours ago. He already knocked off one letter; two including the one he left for Jack on the counter.

As soon as Noah had the truck in park, Luke was opening the door.

"I'll meet you inside," he called over his shoulder and walked up to the large house.

Before Luke could knock, Lily opened the door and greeted him; having heard them pull up into the driveway.

"Hi Luke," she spoke cheerfully.

"Hey," Luke replied and followed her inside. "You seem to be in a good mood."

"I am," Lily smiled, "I'm sorry we all snapped at you before. We were still in shock, but I think we all kind of got over the initial reaction. I'm just glad to have you home!" She pulled Luke into a hug and he couldn't stop smiling.

"Well, I guess you guys don't need to read your letters," Luke teased and pretended to fold them up to put into his pocket.

"Don't you dare!" Lily joked back and took them from her son. "It might sound weird, but I've been looking forward to this."

She began walking into the other room and Luke waited for Noah before following her.

"You owe me!" Noah laughed when he finally walked through the door. "You're making me do all the work!"

"I'm sorry," Luke apologized while walking over to him. He gave Noah a quick kiss before taking Mark out of his arms and into his own. "Come on, my mom went in here."

Both men walked into the next room where Holden, Lucinda and Lily were all sitting at the kitchen table.

"Hey," Luke spoke shyly, "How are you all?"

"We're wonderful, darling!" Lucinda grinned and gave a look to Lily and Holden, "Aren't we?"

"Yeah, we are," Holden mumbled and looked to Lily for help. Lily just smiled at him and winked. Luke laughed.

"Honey," Lily began, "Dinner won't be ready for a couple of minutes, did you want us to go ahead and read your letters?"

"Um... sure." Luke asked Noah to hand them each their letters. Then they both sat down at the kitchen table, Mark still in Luke's arms.

Luckily they decided to read their letters silently. Luke and Noah kept themselves occupied with Mark while Lucinda read her letter, and Lily and Holden read theirs. Luke smiled at his parents sitting and leaning into each other while reading.

After not even five minutes, Lucinda pushed down paper and smiled widely at Luke. Luke smiled back, but they kept silent while his parents kept reading. Luke could hear them whispering to each other, but not loud enough for anyone else to hear. When Lily looked like she was done, she mimicked her mother and smiled at Luke. She nodded her head towards Holden and rolled her eyes. Luke and Noah laughed, and when Holden glanced at them they tried to keep a straight face.

"Alright," Holden said as soon as he was done reading, "You guys can relax, I'm done."

They all smiled, but kept quiet. The silence was a little awkward, but no one knew what to say next.

"So," Noah spoke, breaking the silence, "What did you guys think?" Instinctively he reached down and grasped Luke's hand in his.

"Well, of course I loved it!" Lucinda began and smiled widely at Luke. "I'm so proud of you for stepping up and taking responsibility for your actions!"

"Thanks grandmother," Luke laughed and jokingly rolled his eyes. She was being so obvious.

"I do agree with her," Lily spoke, "I am proud of you. And... I'm just so glad you're home!" She stood up and walked over to Luke and pulled him into her arms. Luke just smiled and held his mother tightly. She stroked his hair and held his head until she directed him to look into her eyes. "I'm sorry I was so cold when you first came home. I just couldn't get past the way you left and didn't enjoy the fact that you were home."

"I agree with your mother," Holden sighed, "But I'm still a little upset with you. Only because of the things you did. They're still affecting me, you know? I understand that you want to pay me back and I don't doubt that you will." Holden sighed again and leaned his head back. After finding the right words he continued, "I guess I hope that you understand what you did by abandoning your legal issues. That is not a good thing to do. Again, I get that you knew that I could afford to pay the man you hit, but you need to know that I didn't have to. You realize how much trouble you could have gotten into, right?"

Luke took a deep breath, and leaned into Noah and Noah put his arm around him.

"I do. I really do. I did think it over. Yes, I knew you would pay it and I was planning on paying you back. I also knew that if anything happened, Jack would stick up for me. Had I thought that it wouldn't have been taken care of, I probably wouldn't have left like that. Bad choices, I know, but it turned out okay, right?" Luke looked to his mother and grandmother for support as he finished speaking.

"I think that is a very honest answer!" Lucinda chimed in.

Lily rolled her eyes at her mom and looked back at Luke.

"Yes, it was honest," she agreed, "The man you hit, that's taken care of. You just need to pay your father back for that, and the damage you did to his car. After that, all you have to do is apologize to Jack and thank him for the things he did to help you."

"But... I already wrote him a letter. I thanked him for everything."

"You did?" Holden asked with a smile on his face.

"He did," Noah added, "He also wrote onone to Emma."

"Wow!" Lily beamed, "Luke, that was just the perfect thing to do. I'm so proud of you."

"Well, thank you mom," Luke blushed, "I mean, I still have a lot to make up for but you all have made me feel so much better. I'm ready to start back over with my life now."

"I think you are, too," Holden agreed, "I'm proud of you as well, son. I think you are very brave. I took a lot of courage to do what you did."

Luke blushed again, but didn't say anything. He just stayed quiet and kept smiling.

"Speaking of moving on," Noah suddenly spoke, breaking the few seconds of silence, "Luke and I have decided to renew our vows. You know, since we almost divorced."

"That's wonderful!" Lucinda exclaimed. Noah and Luke couldn't help but crack up at her enthusiasm.

"I agree," Lily chuckled and gave Luke and Noah each a hug and a kiss, "I'm so happy for my boys."

"Yes, it is wonderful," Holden agreed, "When are you having it?"

"Um... Probably in a couple of weeks," Luke replied, "Mom, do you think we can use the Lakeview? It'll just be our closest family members."

"Sure honey."

"Great," Noah smiled and shiftedtook Mark infrom hisLuke's arms.arms and into his. He had fallen asleep long ago.

"I for one think this a great beginning to a new start in your lives. All three of you deserve happiness and I think you're finally going to achieve it." Lucinda stood up and hugged the two men as well.

Holden followed and joined into the hug. Lily wrapped her everyone, and enjoyed their family moment.