FIC - Force of Nature (3/?)
Title: Force of Nature (3/?)
Author: Wheelie47
Rating: NC17
Pairing: Luke and OC, Luke and Noah.
Word count: 3,018
Disclaimer: Don’t own characters, am not associated in any way with ATWT, Van and Jake. No offence intended.
Summary: Noah is a Professor at the California Institute of Seismic Research and Luke is a freelance investigative reporter...
‘Mikey, remember how I told you about Professor Noah Mayer and how we’re going to spend the afternoon with him?’ Luke asked as his son held his hand while they walked down the two steps from their porch to the drive. ‘Well… he’s going to help us understand why your bed and everything else shakes sometimes. Is that ok?’ he smiled down at his son reassuringly.
Mikey nodded as he looked up with trusting eyes at his Daddy, instinctively knowing that he would do anything to keep him safe but that knowledge didn’t stop him from tightening his grip slightly when he traced his eyes up the tall, long legged frame of the man waiting for them, leaning against his truck with his arms folded over his chest and his sunglasses on.
Noah pushed himself up of the truck and stood at his full height as Luke and his son reached him. ‘Hi’ he greeted Luke with a broad smile before smiling down at Mikey. The look of doubt and apprehension that clouded across Mikey’s light brown eyes made Noah realise with a start just how intimidating he must look like to such young eyes. He pulled off his sunglasses, sliding them into the top pocket of his light blue checked shirt, before squatting down to Mikey’s eye level. ‘Hi’ he tried again, smiling encouragingly.
‘Say hi Mikey’ Luke said softly, squeezing his hand with gentle reassurance.
‘Hello Prof... er… Prof…es… Pro’ Mikey struggled with the unfamiliar word, his eyebrows knitting in concentration.
‘How about you just call me Noah’ Noah chuckled gently.
‘Noah!’ Mikey said with a certain pride that he could pronounce it with ease. ‘I’m Mikey’ he said, sticking out his hand like he’d seen his Dad do when he met people for work. Noah’s smile widened as he took Mikey’s hand in his and shook it, his long fingers dwarfing Mikey’s.
Noah looked up to see Luke looking down at the pair of them intently, lost in his own thoughts.
Noah almost didn’t want to break the moment but they had to make a move. ‘I thought we could take my truck’ he suggested.
‘Can we Daddy… can we?!’ Mikey jumped up and down excitedly.
‘Why not’ Luke shrugged and smiled with a nod before turning to get Mikey’s car seat out of his own car.
‘My bed’s a car!’ Mikey told Noah, the excitement clear in his voice as Luke swung him up into the backseat and belted him in.
Luke chuckled as he slid into the front passenger seat next to Noah. ‘He’s mad about cars… don’t be surprised if he spends the next 20 minutes talking about your truck!’
Noah laughed back; deciding he really liked the sound of Luke’s laugh almost as much as he liked the sight of his smile. He slid the truck into drive and pulled away from the kerb…
…
Noah glanced nervously over at Luke, watching him stare out of the window at the passing scenery as they sped southward further out of the city. He appeared deep in thought, his thumb twirling his wedding ring around the base of his finger.
Luke had been right; Mikey had spent the first 20 minutes of the drive asking about his truck, ‘Did it have a name?’, ‘Did he like driving?’, ‘How loud was the horn?’, ‘How fast did it go?’, ‘Could they drive fast now?’, ‘Why was it black?’ until the questions had started to peter out and Noah had checked the rear view mirror to see that Mikey’s head was nodding and he was struggling to keep his eyes open. A few minutes later and Mikey was fast asleep and it was then and only then that Noah had realised that Luke had spent most of the entire drive so far staring out of the window in silence.
For some reason the silence bothered Noah. ‘You know… when I imagined how this afternoon would pan out I didn’t really picture sitting in the car in silence with you. What… no questions today?’ Noah joked.
Luke startled a little as if realising for the first time that the hum of conversation between Mikey and Noah had stopped. He twisted around in his seat to look over his shoulder to check on Mikey, smiling tenderly when he saw his son was fast asleep.
‘He’s a smart kid. Lots of questions… wonder where he gets it from?!’ Noah smirked.
Luke reached out and gently settled his son’s head in a more comfortable position before slowly turning forward again to meet Noah’s gaze. ‘Funny guy!’ Luke retorted and slapped Noah’s shoulder playfully. ‘I don’t always ask questions you know… I can listen too!’
‘You can do a lot of thinking too! Is everything ok?’ Noah asked. He’d only know Luke for like 5 minutes but it seemed to him that there was something worrying Luke.
Luke was just about to open his mouth to answer when his phone rang. Holding up his hand in apology Luke stretched into his jean pocket, trying to stifle the almost involuntary sigh when he saw Jon’s name on the display. He had been thinking with surprise that his husband hadn’t made more of a fuss about him and Mikey spending the afternoon with Noah; someone he didn’t know… but Luke had put it down to Jon being more concerned with taking his prospective clients out for a round of golf. Apparently though it didn’t stop him from checking up on him, ‘Hey Jon…how’s the golf?’ Luke asked softly into the phone.
Luke listened then answered ‘Yeah…we’re heading to the first monitoring station…’ Luke paused again then continued, ‘Yeah… ok…talk to you later… love you too’. He ended the call and slipped his phone back into his pocket.
He turned to Noah and the flash of… sadness… again… that seemed to flutter at the edges of Luke’s expressive hazel eyes made Noah grip the steering wheel tighter as his fingers itched to reach out and soothe away the slight frown that had settled on Luke’s handsome features. Noah hadn’t been able to hear the other end of the conversation but he could tell from Luke’s facial features that the call had been unwelcome.
‘Everything ok?’ Noah asked again, nodding to Luke’s phone in his jeans pocket. He didn’t want to pry but thought maybe Luke might want to talk, might need someone with a friendly ear.
‘Yep… everything’s fine’ Luke replied in a tone that told Noah that this conversation was going no further, nodding at Mikey in the backseat as his son started to stir again.
‘So…’ Luke changed the tact of the conversation, suddenly all businesslike… he was supposed to writing an article after all ‘have you been able to find a link between the tremors yet?’
‘No…’ Noah sighed, ‘everything just seems so random… there still doesn’t appear to be any link between the timing, place and strength of the tremors… just that we’re having more of them. I’m kinda hoping that these site visits might help make more sense of it all’ he explained as they pulled up next to the first monitoring station on the list…
…
‘So Mikey… this is the equipment that we use to record the earthquakes. It tells us how long they last for and how strong they are’ Noah explained as he unlocked the door to the small hut that housed the equipment.
Noah took a step inside and flicked on the light switch; Luke and Mikey following in behind.
‘What we stand on… ’ Noah explained as he stamped on the floor of the hut, ‘is made up of big rock slabs called plates.’
‘Plates?’ Mikey interrupted, looking up in between his Daddy and Noah in confusion before looking down almost as if he expected to see dinner plate sized rock slabs on the floor.
‘No Mikey… they’re really big’ Noah chuckled and threw his arms out and spun in a wide circle, ‘you can’t see the edges. But sometimes they can rub or bang against each other and the force of that can cause the ground to move and make your bed, buildings and other things shake. Does that make sense?’ Noah asked as he knelt down to Mikey’s eye level.
Mikey considered Noah’s words for a moment, his little face a picture of concentration before shrugging slightly.
‘Ok…’ Noah said slowly as he tried to think of another example; his eyes settling on Mikey’s juice cup clutched in his hand… an idea forming, ‘Imagine if Daddy got two dinner plates and put them together on the dinner table at home, balancing your juice cup on the edges where they meet. If you move the two plates against each other then your cup will shake just like your bed.’ Noah smiled encouragingly.
Mikey thought about this second example for several long moments before a slow smile spread across his face and he nodded vigorously, ‘I got it!’
‘Good for you!’ Noah smiled widely and patted Mikey on his shoulder before standing and dusting off the knees of his jeans. ‘This machine here records how much things shake and now we’re going check to make sure it’s working ok.’
Noah stepped over to the seismograph and tapped the password into the terminal’s keyboard. ‘That’s weird!’ Noah muttered after a few more keystrokes, frowning as he leant closer to the terminal and slipped his glasses on, tapping more keys in quick succession.
‘What’s wrong?’ Luke asked, stepping up and leaning over Noah’s shoulder to peer at the display.
Noah swallowed hard, doing his best to ignore Luke’s close proximity and the enticing smell of his aftershave and tried to concentrate on the confusing information in front of him. ‘The seismograph isn’t calibrated correctly’ Noah replied, shifting slightly so Luke could get a better look.
‘Meaning what?’ Luke asked as he sensed Noah’s concern.
‘It means that the equipment isn’t recording the earthquakes correctly. The scale isn’t set at zero… it’s set at -1.5. Which means that…’ Noah replied as he looked up at Luke.
‘Which means that it’s recording the earthquakes at a lower reading than they really are… right?’ Luke finished Noah’s statement.
‘How can that happen?’ Luke questioned after Noah nodded.
‘I don’t know… maybe whoever did the last maintenance just set it in error. Let me check the log’ Noah reached past Luke to open the desk drawer where the maintenance log would normally be kept. ‘What the hell…!’ Noah exclaimed when he discovered the drawer was empty and the file was nowhere to be seen.
‘Sorry’ Noah apologised sheepishly when he remembered Mikey was there with them.
Luke waved it off. ‘Maybe we should go check out another station’ he suggested, already reaching for Mikey’s hand and heading for the door.
The next two stations they checked along the circular route back up toward LA revealed the same thing, both seismographs had been calibrated differently, each with minus settings and all with the maintenance log missing.
As they pulled up beside the third station and climbed out of the truck, Luke felt a gentle but insistent pull on his hand. He looked down to see Mikey pointing in the direction of a small playground a little way off, ‘Can I play for a bit Daddy… please?’ Mikey asked, smiling up at Luke hopefully.
‘Sure…why not!’ Luke returned his son’s smile, proud that he had been so good today.
‘Noah… we’re gonna take a little break…ok?’ Luke turned to Noah and nodded in the direction of the play area.
Noah paused for a moment, his hand on the lock of the station hut before smiling and following Luke and Mikey over to the park, deciding that a break sounded like a good idea right now.
He stood for a little while watching Luke push Mikey on the swings, smiling widely when Mikey giggled and wanted to be pushed higher, a part of him wishing that this was his own family spending time together on a lazy afternoon but his mind was racing to understand what the adjustments to the seismographs and the missing logs could mean. While he was deep in thought his eyes traced aimlessly over the playground, coming to an abrupt halt when he spotted a thin crack in the tarmac that wasn’t there the last time he’d visited this station.
He walked over and followed the crack to where it disappeared under the slide and then continued out on the other side. He looked around further and found more signs of surface movement everywhere; more cracks in the surface of the playground, irregular kerb heights and uneven fence posts. He didn’t need to see the seismograph here to know that it too wasn’t recording the tremors accurately; they were stronger here than the readings had led him to believe.
‘Hey you ok?’ Luke’s question startled him, looking up he realised that Mikey was now playing in the sand pit and Luke had made his way over to where Noah was examining the cracks whilst keeping Mikey in sight.
‘So… what do you think all this means? Someone at the Institute must be behind this right? This isn’t just a coincidence is it?’ Luke voiced the questions that had been racing through Noah’s mind.
‘I don’t know Luke… I need to get back to the Institute and investigate. I need to look at the data again now I know that the original readings were wrong. I should talk to Professor Foster too’ Noah frowned, wondering what the Professor would make of the new information.
Luke was just about to reply when a tremor shook the ground where he and Noah stood, followed seconds later by Mikey’s distressed ‘Daddy!’
He stumbled over with Noah close behind; the vibrations making it hard to stay upright, and crouched down, pulling a crying Mikey into his arms, holding him close and whispering, ‘Mikey…it’s ok… I’ve got you’ over and over again as the tremor rumbled on for a few more seconds before subsiding.
Luke stood uncertainly on shaking legs, settling Mikey against his shoulder and stroking his hair soothingly. ‘It’s ok Mikey…it over now’ Luke murmured gently against the top of his trembling son’s head.
Noah reached out and rubbed soothing circles on Mikey’s back, his other hand settling subconsciously on Luke’s shoulder. ‘Are you guys ok?’ he asked in concern.
Luke paused before nodding, feeling the comforting warmth of Noah’s palm through the thin material of his t-shirt. ‘I just want to take him home’ Luke said, throwing Noah an imploring look over the top of Mikey’s head…
…
Jon was pulling his golf bag out of the trunk when they pulled up in front of the drive. He watched as Noah climbed out from behind the wheel, eyes tracing his tall frame from head to foot. ‘Aren’t you going to introduce me?’ he asked, looking over at Luke as his husband unstrapped Mikey from the car seat.
‘Oh right… sorry’ Luke answered distractedly, more concerned over Mikey, ‘this is Noah… the Professor I was telling you about.’
‘Hey’ Jon nodded in Noah’s direction before pulling Luke into a deep kiss of such intensity that had Noah looking away in embarrassment, feeling like he was intruding.
As Jon pulled away he spotted Mikey’s tear streaked face. ‘What happened?’ he asked in concern.
‘There was another tremor while we were at one of the stations’ Luke answered a little breathlessly, his cheeks burning in the heat of a blush.
‘Funny… we never felt anything at the golf course’ Jon replied, a frown creasing his features.
‘Guess it didn’t reach as far as you’ Luke shrugged. ‘I’m gonna take Mikey inside. Noah… thanks for this afternoon. Sorry it didn’t turn out as we planned. Call me when you’ve found out more…ok?’ Luke asked with a small smile.
‘Sure’ Noah nodded and smiled back. ‘Nice to meet you’ he nodded at Jon and climbed back into his truck.
Jon watched Luke head up the path and into the house before turning to stare at Noah’s truck as it pulled away from the drive…
…
Luke had to bit down on his bottom lip to stop himself from crying out as Jon’s sheer animalistic thrusts rocked into him.
‘So good…Luke… so hot’ Jon breathed out, bruising fingers gripping Luke’s hips as the sweat of his exertions dripped on to Luke’s flushed chest.
‘Say it… Luke… say my name!’ Jon demanded breathlessly, leaning forward to nip at the sensitive skin of Luke’s shoulder as he felt his climax building.
‘Jon…Jon’ Luke groaned, his eyes squeezed shut as he reached for his cock, desperate for his own release.
‘Mine!’ Jon exclaimed as he batted Luke’s hand away, working his fingers over Luke’s length in time to his thrusts, building in intensity until he finally shuddered his climax deep within his husband…
…
Luke slipped out of Jon’s sleeping embrace, wincing as he stood. As he pulled the duvet back over the bed it came as no surprise to see the spotting of dried blood on the sheet; a shiver of revulsion racing up his spine.
He made it as far as the bathroom and the cleansing heat of the shower before the tears started to come. They came slowly at first but as Luke looked down at the marks on his body he sank to the floor of the shower and the tears came hard and fast, sobs wracking through his chest.
Pulling his knees up to his chest and resting his head on his arms he let the water cascade down over him, desperately wondering just when what had started out as the perfect relationship had ended up in this vicious spiral of bruising jealousy and the unceasing need to prove possession…
Chapter 4
Link back to fic master post
Author: Wheelie47
Rating: NC17
Pairing: Luke and OC, Luke and Noah.
Word count: 3,018
Disclaimer: Don’t own characters, am not associated in any way with ATWT, Van and Jake. No offence intended.
Summary: Noah is a Professor at the California Institute of Seismic Research and Luke is a freelance investigative reporter...
‘Mikey, remember how I told you about Professor Noah Mayer and how we’re going to spend the afternoon with him?’ Luke asked as his son held his hand while they walked down the two steps from their porch to the drive. ‘Well… he’s going to help us understand why your bed and everything else shakes sometimes. Is that ok?’ he smiled down at his son reassuringly.
Mikey nodded as he looked up with trusting eyes at his Daddy, instinctively knowing that he would do anything to keep him safe but that knowledge didn’t stop him from tightening his grip slightly when he traced his eyes up the tall, long legged frame of the man waiting for them, leaning against his truck with his arms folded over his chest and his sunglasses on.
Noah pushed himself up of the truck and stood at his full height as Luke and his son reached him. ‘Hi’ he greeted Luke with a broad smile before smiling down at Mikey. The look of doubt and apprehension that clouded across Mikey’s light brown eyes made Noah realise with a start just how intimidating he must look like to such young eyes. He pulled off his sunglasses, sliding them into the top pocket of his light blue checked shirt, before squatting down to Mikey’s eye level. ‘Hi’ he tried again, smiling encouragingly.
‘Say hi Mikey’ Luke said softly, squeezing his hand with gentle reassurance.
‘Hello Prof... er… Prof…es… Pro’ Mikey struggled with the unfamiliar word, his eyebrows knitting in concentration.
‘How about you just call me Noah’ Noah chuckled gently.
‘Noah!’ Mikey said with a certain pride that he could pronounce it with ease. ‘I’m Mikey’ he said, sticking out his hand like he’d seen his Dad do when he met people for work. Noah’s smile widened as he took Mikey’s hand in his and shook it, his long fingers dwarfing Mikey’s.
Noah looked up to see Luke looking down at the pair of them intently, lost in his own thoughts.
Noah almost didn’t want to break the moment but they had to make a move. ‘I thought we could take my truck’ he suggested.
‘Can we Daddy… can we?!’ Mikey jumped up and down excitedly.
‘Why not’ Luke shrugged and smiled with a nod before turning to get Mikey’s car seat out of his own car.
‘My bed’s a car!’ Mikey told Noah, the excitement clear in his voice as Luke swung him up into the backseat and belted him in.
Luke chuckled as he slid into the front passenger seat next to Noah. ‘He’s mad about cars… don’t be surprised if he spends the next 20 minutes talking about your truck!’
Noah laughed back; deciding he really liked the sound of Luke’s laugh almost as much as he liked the sight of his smile. He slid the truck into drive and pulled away from the kerb…
…
Noah glanced nervously over at Luke, watching him stare out of the window at the passing scenery as they sped southward further out of the city. He appeared deep in thought, his thumb twirling his wedding ring around the base of his finger.
Luke had been right; Mikey had spent the first 20 minutes of the drive asking about his truck, ‘Did it have a name?’, ‘Did he like driving?’, ‘How loud was the horn?’, ‘How fast did it go?’, ‘Could they drive fast now?’, ‘Why was it black?’ until the questions had started to peter out and Noah had checked the rear view mirror to see that Mikey’s head was nodding and he was struggling to keep his eyes open. A few minutes later and Mikey was fast asleep and it was then and only then that Noah had realised that Luke had spent most of the entire drive so far staring out of the window in silence.
For some reason the silence bothered Noah. ‘You know… when I imagined how this afternoon would pan out I didn’t really picture sitting in the car in silence with you. What… no questions today?’ Noah joked.
Luke startled a little as if realising for the first time that the hum of conversation between Mikey and Noah had stopped. He twisted around in his seat to look over his shoulder to check on Mikey, smiling tenderly when he saw his son was fast asleep.
‘He’s a smart kid. Lots of questions… wonder where he gets it from?!’ Noah smirked.
Luke reached out and gently settled his son’s head in a more comfortable position before slowly turning forward again to meet Noah’s gaze. ‘Funny guy!’ Luke retorted and slapped Noah’s shoulder playfully. ‘I don’t always ask questions you know… I can listen too!’
‘You can do a lot of thinking too! Is everything ok?’ Noah asked. He’d only know Luke for like 5 minutes but it seemed to him that there was something worrying Luke.
Luke was just about to open his mouth to answer when his phone rang. Holding up his hand in apology Luke stretched into his jean pocket, trying to stifle the almost involuntary sigh when he saw Jon’s name on the display. He had been thinking with surprise that his husband hadn’t made more of a fuss about him and Mikey spending the afternoon with Noah; someone he didn’t know… but Luke had put it down to Jon being more concerned with taking his prospective clients out for a round of golf. Apparently though it didn’t stop him from checking up on him, ‘Hey Jon…how’s the golf?’ Luke asked softly into the phone.
Luke listened then answered ‘Yeah…we’re heading to the first monitoring station…’ Luke paused again then continued, ‘Yeah… ok…talk to you later… love you too’. He ended the call and slipped his phone back into his pocket.
He turned to Noah and the flash of… sadness… again… that seemed to flutter at the edges of Luke’s expressive hazel eyes made Noah grip the steering wheel tighter as his fingers itched to reach out and soothe away the slight frown that had settled on Luke’s handsome features. Noah hadn’t been able to hear the other end of the conversation but he could tell from Luke’s facial features that the call had been unwelcome.
‘Everything ok?’ Noah asked again, nodding to Luke’s phone in his jeans pocket. He didn’t want to pry but thought maybe Luke might want to talk, might need someone with a friendly ear.
‘Yep… everything’s fine’ Luke replied in a tone that told Noah that this conversation was going no further, nodding at Mikey in the backseat as his son started to stir again.
‘So…’ Luke changed the tact of the conversation, suddenly all businesslike… he was supposed to writing an article after all ‘have you been able to find a link between the tremors yet?’
‘No…’ Noah sighed, ‘everything just seems so random… there still doesn’t appear to be any link between the timing, place and strength of the tremors… just that we’re having more of them. I’m kinda hoping that these site visits might help make more sense of it all’ he explained as they pulled up next to the first monitoring station on the list…
…
‘So Mikey… this is the equipment that we use to record the earthquakes. It tells us how long they last for and how strong they are’ Noah explained as he unlocked the door to the small hut that housed the equipment.
Noah took a step inside and flicked on the light switch; Luke and Mikey following in behind.
‘What we stand on… ’ Noah explained as he stamped on the floor of the hut, ‘is made up of big rock slabs called plates.’
‘Plates?’ Mikey interrupted, looking up in between his Daddy and Noah in confusion before looking down almost as if he expected to see dinner plate sized rock slabs on the floor.
‘No Mikey… they’re really big’ Noah chuckled and threw his arms out and spun in a wide circle, ‘you can’t see the edges. But sometimes they can rub or bang against each other and the force of that can cause the ground to move and make your bed, buildings and other things shake. Does that make sense?’ Noah asked as he knelt down to Mikey’s eye level.
Mikey considered Noah’s words for a moment, his little face a picture of concentration before shrugging slightly.
‘Ok…’ Noah said slowly as he tried to think of another example; his eyes settling on Mikey’s juice cup clutched in his hand… an idea forming, ‘Imagine if Daddy got two dinner plates and put them together on the dinner table at home, balancing your juice cup on the edges where they meet. If you move the two plates against each other then your cup will shake just like your bed.’ Noah smiled encouragingly.
Mikey thought about this second example for several long moments before a slow smile spread across his face and he nodded vigorously, ‘I got it!’
‘Good for you!’ Noah smiled widely and patted Mikey on his shoulder before standing and dusting off the knees of his jeans. ‘This machine here records how much things shake and now we’re going check to make sure it’s working ok.’
Noah stepped over to the seismograph and tapped the password into the terminal’s keyboard. ‘That’s weird!’ Noah muttered after a few more keystrokes, frowning as he leant closer to the terminal and slipped his glasses on, tapping more keys in quick succession.
‘What’s wrong?’ Luke asked, stepping up and leaning over Noah’s shoulder to peer at the display.
Noah swallowed hard, doing his best to ignore Luke’s close proximity and the enticing smell of his aftershave and tried to concentrate on the confusing information in front of him. ‘The seismograph isn’t calibrated correctly’ Noah replied, shifting slightly so Luke could get a better look.
‘Meaning what?’ Luke asked as he sensed Noah’s concern.
‘It means that the equipment isn’t recording the earthquakes correctly. The scale isn’t set at zero… it’s set at -1.5. Which means that…’ Noah replied as he looked up at Luke.
‘Which means that it’s recording the earthquakes at a lower reading than they really are… right?’ Luke finished Noah’s statement.
‘How can that happen?’ Luke questioned after Noah nodded.
‘I don’t know… maybe whoever did the last maintenance just set it in error. Let me check the log’ Noah reached past Luke to open the desk drawer where the maintenance log would normally be kept. ‘What the hell…!’ Noah exclaimed when he discovered the drawer was empty and the file was nowhere to be seen.
‘Sorry’ Noah apologised sheepishly when he remembered Mikey was there with them.
Luke waved it off. ‘Maybe we should go check out another station’ he suggested, already reaching for Mikey’s hand and heading for the door.
The next two stations they checked along the circular route back up toward LA revealed the same thing, both seismographs had been calibrated differently, each with minus settings and all with the maintenance log missing.
As they pulled up beside the third station and climbed out of the truck, Luke felt a gentle but insistent pull on his hand. He looked down to see Mikey pointing in the direction of a small playground a little way off, ‘Can I play for a bit Daddy… please?’ Mikey asked, smiling up at Luke hopefully.
‘Sure…why not!’ Luke returned his son’s smile, proud that he had been so good today.
‘Noah… we’re gonna take a little break…ok?’ Luke turned to Noah and nodded in the direction of the play area.
Noah paused for a moment, his hand on the lock of the station hut before smiling and following Luke and Mikey over to the park, deciding that a break sounded like a good idea right now.
He stood for a little while watching Luke push Mikey on the swings, smiling widely when Mikey giggled and wanted to be pushed higher, a part of him wishing that this was his own family spending time together on a lazy afternoon but his mind was racing to understand what the adjustments to the seismographs and the missing logs could mean. While he was deep in thought his eyes traced aimlessly over the playground, coming to an abrupt halt when he spotted a thin crack in the tarmac that wasn’t there the last time he’d visited this station.
He walked over and followed the crack to where it disappeared under the slide and then continued out on the other side. He looked around further and found more signs of surface movement everywhere; more cracks in the surface of the playground, irregular kerb heights and uneven fence posts. He didn’t need to see the seismograph here to know that it too wasn’t recording the tremors accurately; they were stronger here than the readings had led him to believe.
‘Hey you ok?’ Luke’s question startled him, looking up he realised that Mikey was now playing in the sand pit and Luke had made his way over to where Noah was examining the cracks whilst keeping Mikey in sight.
‘So… what do you think all this means? Someone at the Institute must be behind this right? This isn’t just a coincidence is it?’ Luke voiced the questions that had been racing through Noah’s mind.
‘I don’t know Luke… I need to get back to the Institute and investigate. I need to look at the data again now I know that the original readings were wrong. I should talk to Professor Foster too’ Noah frowned, wondering what the Professor would make of the new information.
Luke was just about to reply when a tremor shook the ground where he and Noah stood, followed seconds later by Mikey’s distressed ‘Daddy!’
He stumbled over with Noah close behind; the vibrations making it hard to stay upright, and crouched down, pulling a crying Mikey into his arms, holding him close and whispering, ‘Mikey…it’s ok… I’ve got you’ over and over again as the tremor rumbled on for a few more seconds before subsiding.
Luke stood uncertainly on shaking legs, settling Mikey against his shoulder and stroking his hair soothingly. ‘It’s ok Mikey…it over now’ Luke murmured gently against the top of his trembling son’s head.
Noah reached out and rubbed soothing circles on Mikey’s back, his other hand settling subconsciously on Luke’s shoulder. ‘Are you guys ok?’ he asked in concern.
Luke paused before nodding, feeling the comforting warmth of Noah’s palm through the thin material of his t-shirt. ‘I just want to take him home’ Luke said, throwing Noah an imploring look over the top of Mikey’s head…
…
Jon was pulling his golf bag out of the trunk when they pulled up in front of the drive. He watched as Noah climbed out from behind the wheel, eyes tracing his tall frame from head to foot. ‘Aren’t you going to introduce me?’ he asked, looking over at Luke as his husband unstrapped Mikey from the car seat.
‘Oh right… sorry’ Luke answered distractedly, more concerned over Mikey, ‘this is Noah… the Professor I was telling you about.’
‘Hey’ Jon nodded in Noah’s direction before pulling Luke into a deep kiss of such intensity that had Noah looking away in embarrassment, feeling like he was intruding.
As Jon pulled away he spotted Mikey’s tear streaked face. ‘What happened?’ he asked in concern.
‘There was another tremor while we were at one of the stations’ Luke answered a little breathlessly, his cheeks burning in the heat of a blush.
‘Funny… we never felt anything at the golf course’ Jon replied, a frown creasing his features.
‘Guess it didn’t reach as far as you’ Luke shrugged. ‘I’m gonna take Mikey inside. Noah… thanks for this afternoon. Sorry it didn’t turn out as we planned. Call me when you’ve found out more…ok?’ Luke asked with a small smile.
‘Sure’ Noah nodded and smiled back. ‘Nice to meet you’ he nodded at Jon and climbed back into his truck.
Jon watched Luke head up the path and into the house before turning to stare at Noah’s truck as it pulled away from the drive…
…
Luke had to bit down on his bottom lip to stop himself from crying out as Jon’s sheer animalistic thrusts rocked into him.
‘So good…Luke… so hot’ Jon breathed out, bruising fingers gripping Luke’s hips as the sweat of his exertions dripped on to Luke’s flushed chest.
‘Say it… Luke… say my name!’ Jon demanded breathlessly, leaning forward to nip at the sensitive skin of Luke’s shoulder as he felt his climax building.
‘Jon…Jon’ Luke groaned, his eyes squeezed shut as he reached for his cock, desperate for his own release.
‘Mine!’ Jon exclaimed as he batted Luke’s hand away, working his fingers over Luke’s length in time to his thrusts, building in intensity until he finally shuddered his climax deep within his husband…
…
Luke slipped out of Jon’s sleeping embrace, wincing as he stood. As he pulled the duvet back over the bed it came as no surprise to see the spotting of dried blood on the sheet; a shiver of revulsion racing up his spine.
He made it as far as the bathroom and the cleansing heat of the shower before the tears started to come. They came slowly at first but as Luke looked down at the marks on his body he sank to the floor of the shower and the tears came hard and fast, sobs wracking through his chest.
Pulling his knees up to his chest and resting his head on his arms he let the water cascade down over him, desperately wondering just when what had started out as the perfect relationship had ended up in this vicious spiral of bruising jealousy and the unceasing need to prove possession…
Chapter 4
Link back to fic master post