A Mighty Need

A week after Noel had flown back to London Audrey found that she was still in somewhat of a fog. It felt like coming out of a movie theater after seeing a really fantastic film and everything around you just feels electric, like you could do anything and have it be just as epic as movie scene. Reality hadn’t fully pulled her back but she sensed it seeping in. She was starting to lose the warm, fuzzy bubble she’d surrounded herself with. The more time that passed since she’d last seen Noel, the more Audrey felt like something was missing. Not just the obvious answer of him being gone; it was more than that. She couldn’t place her finger on it and that bothered her.

Audrey had made her way up to New York early on Friday the 13th. She’d made the drive with her brother Austin, who dropped her off at the Barnes and Noble on 5th Avenue while he took off to do whatever for a while. She had been invited to a charity book signing which included a few other authors. Anyone who brought a toy in with them to donate to Toys For Tots got one free, professional photo taken with any or all of the authors present. If anyone who showed up also happened to purchase any of the present authors’ books from the 5th Avenue location on that day, Barnes and Noble was going to donate their share of the profits to the Christmas Spirit Foundation, which assisted troops and their families during the holidays.

The day of signing and photographs for Audrey lasted from noon to four. She called Austin up afterward and told him to come back and pick her up. When he arrived, she was standing outside with her arms wrapped around the waist of her pea coat, which did little to keep her warm from the cold wind whipping up the street. She couldn’t get into her car quick enough and when she did, asked Austin what he’d done over the last four hours. He’d gone to the American Retro Bar and Grill on 11th Avenue for lunch where he bumped into Jon Stewart. To prove he wasn’t lying, Austin pulled out his phone and pulled up a picture of him with Jon Stewart. He said he’d told Jon that Audrey was his sister, and then he did the same to Jon that he’d just done to Audrey; proved his point with a picture. Apparently Jon knew full well who Audrey was and was interested in getting her on The Daily Show at some point.

Audrey laughed, commenting that Austin had turned into her PR pimp and that maybe she should hire him to be her new personal assistant. Even though she was laughing as she said it, she was quite serious. The current personal assistant was only an occasional thing because Audrey had never felt she needed one. But now that she was getting more well-known and more offers to do other things than just book signings were rolling in, she realized she might not be able to handle it all on her own. Plus, with Austin having no gainful employment, at least not while his landscaping job had him out of work until springtime, it seemed like a plausible opportunity for both siblings. And who knew? Maybe it could eventually prove to be a stepping stone for something greater for Austin. He’d gone to a two year school for auto body repair, and then had worked part-time at an Autozone for a few years before getting sick of the place. At twenty-four, he seemed a bit lost and unsure of where his life was going.

Audrey wanted to help her baby brother; to give him a boost. She often wished someone could’ve done the same for her.

On the drive home to Philadelphia, they stopped at Geno’s to get some cheesesteaks to bring home to her condo where they had dinner. Austin spent the night in her guest room and the next day she drove him back home to their parents’ home in Narberth. As soon as she got back to her condo that Saturday afternoon, she jumped on her computer and pulled up Skype in the event that Noel would be online.



Noel wasn’t home. He had been out to a late dinner with a few friends and had gone on to have drinks with different friends at The Groucho Club on Dean Street. He was seated on a comfy sofa, nursing a glass of single malt whiskey while music played over the din of many conversations; one such conversation he was more or less in the middle of. He wasn’t actively involving himself in what was going on. Noel had chosen to play more of an observer’s role, just watching the world around him. He smiled and laughed at the right times but something felt a bit off. Something felt like it was missing. There was a ball of anxiety starting to build in his gut and it was putting him a bit off and he didn’t like it in the least. Considering how hard and long he was capable of partying the night away, and it had nothing to do with him being older now, he just felt no ambition to be out too late recently.

Before midnight, he had said goodbye to his friends and stepped outside of the club to the flash of one paparazzo’s camera as he stood waiting for a taxi. He pulled out a cigarette and did his best to ignore the blinding lights and the mild cajoling. Lighting his cigarette and placing it between his lips, he took a long drag while he removed his cell phone from the inner pocket of the jacket he was wearing and scrolled through to look at his missed calls. He had turned his phone off while in the club because he knew the use of phones inside was generally frowned upon inside except in certain areas at certain times. It wasn’t a member-only club for nothing.

There were only two messages; one from Tania, his art dealer, and the other was from Audrey. He ignored Tania’s message for the moment because seeing Audrey’s name come across made him feel better. The mere thought of her was like medicine to cure what ailed him.

He listened to her message and smiled at the sound of her voice. She mentioned trying to see if he was on Skype earlier, then told him about her day so far and about the signing up in New York the day before. When a black cab finally arrived for him, a bouncer for the club opened the door for him and he muttered a thank you before giving the paparazzo the finger. Sliding into the back, he gave his address to the cabbie and sat back waiting for the vehicle to drive off. All the while, the paparazzo was still trying to get pictures of him, so Noel just kept turning his face away so the guy couldn’t get any good shots.

Noel arrived home around twenty minutes later. As soon as he was inside his own home, he kicked off his boots and shed his coat, dropping it to the floor and stepping tiredly into the living room to lie on the couch. He pressed his face into the brown, leather cushion for a moment before turning to lie on his side and reach across to the coffee table where his laptop was. He opened it up, turned it on and waited for it to boot up. His cats came round, sniffing him out while he waited and he smiled at them. He scratched behind their ears and on their backs, listening as they purred in response.

The first thing Noel did on his computer was open up Skype. He checked for her name and smiled even more when he saw it showed she was online. Before he could make first contact, a message popped up asking if he wanted to accept a call from ‘Sexy’. That was what he had listed Audrey as. He clicked yes and then there she was smiling back at him.

“There you are,” she waved with a trill of her fingers.

“Here I am,” he replied, still lying on his side. “I miss your face.”

“I miss yours, too.”

“We really need to do something about that. Skype isn’t the same.” He propped himself up on one arm. “This has been the longest week in the existence of mankind.”

“What do you suggest?”

“Come to me,” he said quietly, like a child in need of a security blanket.

Audrey stared ruefully back at him. “When?”

“Right now; right this very second. You’re gonna fold your arms and bob your head like in I Dream of Jeanie and you’re gonna be here.”

“If it were that easy, you know I would.”

“Will you show up on my doorstep on Christmas, then? Hitch a ride with Santa Claus. He won’t mind.”

“And let me guess; you want me to be there wearing only a ribbon on my head?” Audrey snickered, laughing under her breath.

Noel grinned back at her. “No, not necessarily. I like to unwrap my gifts. That’s half the fun.” Resting his chin down on his hands, he grew serious. “But, really, it’s your turn to visit. When do you foresee that? I wouldn’t expect Christmas. We each got our families that will want us, but maybe for New Year’s?”

Audrey twisted her lips in thought, staring off over her laptop screen at nothing in particular. “I don’t see why not. I wouldn’t want to fly in on the day of New Year’s Eve. In the event there’s a delay or a cancellation, I don’t want to spend the countdown in the airport. I’d probably fly in the day before or the day before that.” Audrey shrugged. “I’d have to check available flights.”

“Even if it’s last minute, give me a call and I’ll be at the airport to meet you. I’ll drop whatever I’m doing.”

“What if you’re holding someone’s baby?”

“Especially if I’m holding someone’s baby,” he remarked, causing Audrey to cackle at him.

“You’re nuts, Fielding, and the squirrels have got the best of ya.”

Noel nodded in agreement. “They’ve got my sanity held hostage and are asking for unsalted cashews for their ransom payment.”

Audrey smiled. “Don’t ever pay them,” she said. “I like you crazy.”



Exactly six days later it was the 20th of December, Audrey had finally gotten back to Noel about her coming for a visit. And it was better news for Noel than he was expecting. According to her, her parents had decided they would spend Christmas at her sister’s house in Columbus so they could see the grandkids open their gifts, and would then be traveling to South Dakota to spend New Year’s with Audrey’s other brother Eddie and his wife Stephanie. Audrey and Austin were invited to come with them, of course, but Audrey had already mentioned she would probably fly to London for New Year’s to see Noel. Austin didn’t want to go to South Dakota for New Year’s, even if it was to see their brother that he hadn’t seen since July. There would be nothing to do once they got there and Audrey knew it, too. If neither Audrey nor Austin were going to South Dakota, they wouldn’t be traveling with their parents from Columbus. Since both had just seen Christina and her family for Thanksgiving, Audrey was tempted to just have Austin stay with her in Philly and the two of them would have a little Christmas together. But then she got thinking.

If she was just going to stay in Philly for Christmas with Austin, why not just spend it with Noel. She felt bad not including Austin, so when she phoned Noel, she asked if it would be alright if Austin came with her. Always the people person, Noel assured her that her brother coming along was fine. All that mattered to him was that she would be there.

After that initial call is when she booked her flight. She called back later that day with her flight information. Audrey and Austin would be leaving Philadelphia just after four in the afternoon on a flight to Chicago where they would have a three and a half hour layover at O’Hare. Since their flight from O’Hare to Heathrow would take them through the night into the morning of the 23rd, they planned to sleep during most of it, if they could at all. Because of such a long flight, the times they would be flying and because it was Christmas, Audrey was more than okay with paying for First Class seating for her and her brother. There was no way they would get any sleep stuck back in Economy.

With this information, Noel went about making sure his home was ready for his guests. He vacuumed and put fresh sheets on the bed in one of his extra bedrooms where Austin would be sleeping. He even thought it would be funny to leave a mint on the pillow like a hotel would. Noel made sure he was stocked up on toilet paper, basic food items and decided to even buy a new robe to hang up on the hook on the back of the extra bedroom’s door. He didn’t know if Austin would bother packing one, but during the winter, even with the heat on, Noel’s home could get drafty.

Noel had already informed his mother there would be extra guests for Christmas dinner. Diane Fielding seemed rather excited to finally meet her eldest son’s new ladylove. And in his parents’ eyes, one more person never hurt anything when it came to their parties or dinners. The more the merrier! Mike was bringing a lady friend as well but, in the younger Fielding’s case, it didn’t seem like anything as serious as what Noel had going on. No one even knew what Mike’s new girl’s name was yet.

By ten in the morning on December 23rd, Noel was airport bound in a black cab. Forty minutes later, he had arrived to the airport and made his way to meet point at Terminal 1 where the passengers from international flights would be passing through. He had brought a simple white placard with him and to hold up when the passengers started to come past. While he waited, he received some attention from others like him, waiting on people coming of arriving flights. He was dressed rather simply in a pair of denim skinny jeans, his black Chelsea boots and green parka. On his hands was a pair of fingerless black gloves. His face always gave him away. He half expected at least one person to approach him, but was pleasantly surprised when no one did. Perhaps they were all just too engrossed with seeing their loved ones again, or whoever it was they were there to greet.

By eleven-thirty, twenty-five minutes after Audrey’s flight was said to have arrived, a slew of passengers began to exit into the greet area where Noel was. He looked over all the heads and spotted her brother Austin first, who easily stood more than half a foot over his older sister. Holding up his placard, Noel smiled as he watched Audrey come into view.

As soon as she spotted him, she smiled, and then laughed; gesturing to his sign which read ‘BUNNY FOO FOO AND BROTHER.’ Lugging her suitcase in one hand, laptop case over one shoulder and purse over the other, Audrey did her best to hurry up to him. She dropped her suitcase to the ground as soon as she stood in front of him and he immediately wrapped his arms around her to hug her. Audrey pulled back long enough to look him in the face and kiss him, which he eagerly accepted. Austin just stood back and let the lovebirds have their moment.

“Seeing your face in person is so much better than over the internet,” she cooed, giving him another, quicker kiss.

Noel rubbed his nose against hers and smirked. “That’s not the only thing that’s better in person,” he commented, wiggling his eyebrows. He then whispered into her ear, “I should’ve invested in soundproofing my bedroom while your brother’s here.”

Audrey cackled and pulled away from Noel, who nodded to Austin and shook the younger man’s hand before pulling him in for a friendly hug.

“How was the flight?” he asked.

Austin shrugged. “It was alright. I slept most of the time.”

“That’s good.”

“I didn’t,” Audrey piped up. “Too anxious.”

Noel looked at her and smiled. “I think I only got about five hours of sleep last night. I was up late making sure everything was set up for your visit.”

“I’ve been to your house. There’s nothing that needs setting up.”

“Well, I had to clean up again. I tend to leave a mess in my wake, plus I had last minute Christmas decorations to put up.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah,” Noel nodded. “You’ll see.” He bent at the knees and picked up Audrey’s suitcase. “Let’s go hail a cab and go home.”

“Music to my ears.”



Noel, Audrey and Austin got back to Noel’s home in Highgate around twelve-twenty. He was still carrying Audrey’s suitcase for her as he led the Woods siblings up to the second level where his bedroom and the extra bedroom Austin would be staying in were. He set her suitcase just inside his bedroom door and then led Austin to his room. He opened it up and let Austin in first.

“I got you a robe,” Noel muttered. “You might need it. Mornings can be a bit drafty in the winter.”

“Cool, thanks.” Then Austin noticed the mint. He walked over to the bed and picked it up, turning with a laugh toward Noel. “Seriously?”

Noel shrugged. “Yeah. Welcome to Chez Fielding.”

Austin decided to hang back in his room to start to unpack, mostly because he knew Audrey and Noel would probably want a bit of time alone together, to do whatever it was they might want to do. Austin wasn’t dumb. He knew at some point his sister and her new British boyfriend might be having sex. That was why he brought his own laptop and headphones so he could listen to music or watch movies. He also planned to venture out into the city on his own at some point and knew it would provide Audrey and Noel with plenty enough opportunities for their own alone time.

In Noel’s room, he walked over to his closet and opened the door, then pulled open two drawers of his dresser which were empty. “So you can put your clothes away.”

Audrey sidled up beside him with a grin. “I have my own drawer space already?”

“Well, it’s not like I’m expecting you to leave your clothes all squashed up and wrinkled in your suitcase, now am I?”

Audrey placed her thumb to his chin and her index finger under it, and then brushing her thumb over his bottom lip before kissing him.

He closed his eyes upon the gesture and smiled against her lips. “What do you want to do first?” he asked, finally taking off his parka and tossing it to a waiting chair.

“Honestly, I could really go for a hot shower and sleep right about now.”

Noel stepped out of the way and gestured to his bathroom door. “Be my guest.”

She set her laptop carrying case and purse down, not bothering to unpack her suitcase just yet. Instead, she unzipped the suitcase and pulled out a pair of underwear, pajama pants and Noel’s demented Mickey Mouse sweater he had lent her almost two months prior. He smiled at that as she padded her way into the bathroom and shut the door behind her. When he heard the water turn on, Noel turned down his bed and fluffed up the pillows a bit, and then he walked out of his room to check on Austin.

He knocked on the doorframe and peered in. “Hey.” Austin turned around. “Your sister’s grabbing a shower and she wants to catch up on some sleep after. If you want, you can use the TV in the living room downstairs, get something to eat. Help yourself. I’ll give a guided tour of the house later, if you want, or you can go off poking around on your own. Whatever floats your boat.”

Austin smirked. “You’re gonna take a nap, too, huh?”

“Yeah, probably. Five hours of sleep does not an alert Noel make.”

“We’re all adults here, so I hope you don’t feel like you gotta tiptoe around me where Audrey’s concerned,” Austin assured. “She’s thirty-two and you’re her boyfriend. I’m not gonna play the protective brother card, but if you’re gonna have sex, give me a heads up so I can tune it out.”

Noel let out a chuckle and looked down at the floor briefly. “Well, uh…right. I’ll do my best to warn you in advance. I don’t think you have to worry about anything right now, though. She looks a bit too tired for anything extracurricular and I don’t think I’m up for anything either at the moment.” As an afterthought he added, “No pun intended.”

Austin shook his head and smiled. “S’okay.” Then, “Oh, what’s your Wi-Fi password; in case I want to get online?”

“I just changed it recently,” Noel replied. “Foofoo.”

“That’s a reference to Audrey isn’t it?” Austin inquired with a smirk.

Noel slapped both sides of the doorframe with his hands. He smiled and shrugged at the young man sixteen years his junior. “Maybe.” He then ducked away and headed back to his own room, shutting the door behind him.

He sat down on the edge of his bed and removed his boots, tossing them with a thud to the floor near the bathroom door. Standing up, he went to his dresser and closed the drawers he had left open for Audrey and then opened one of the other drawers where he kept a folded up pair of pajama pants. He changed out of his skinny jeans and into the pajama pants and then returned to his side of the bed where he laid back with his head propped up by pillows. With his hands folded on his chest and his legs crossed at the ankles, Noel waited.

About five minutes later, Audrey reemerged from the bathroom wearing her pajama bottoms and his sweater. Smiling at him, she walked around to the other side of the bed and climbed up to lay beside him. He sat up enough to reach for the covers and pull them up over their bodies.

“How was your shower?”

“Lonely,” she pouted.

In response, Noel kissed her puffed up lips and curled an arm around her waist to pull her closer to him. “Not so lonely now, though, right?” he asked.

Audrey shook her head. “Nope.” Reaching a hand up, she brushed some hair off his face and twirled it momentarily around her finger. “I swear you need to stop looking the way you do. It’s really not fair to the rest of the population, hogging all the pretty.”

Noel rolled his eyes. “You should take your own advice, Aphrodite.”

“Oh god, not that again,” she chuckled. “Very well, Adonis.”

Noel smacked his lips and nudged his forehead against her shoulder. “I’m glad you could be here for Christmas.”

“I’m just glad to be here in general.”

Kissing her clothed shoulder, he placed one more kiss back on her lips before he pulled back enough to rest his head on his pillow once more. “Let’s rest up.”

“Hopefully we don’t sleep too long. I don’t want to be up all night,” she remarked. “I’m already gonna have enough problems with jetlag.”

“Want me to set the alarm?”

Audrey nodded. “Yeah. It’s about one now? Just give us until four-thirty. That’s three and a half hours; just something to take the edge off.”

“Alright.” Noel rolled over to his bedside table and picked up his alarm clock to set it for four-thirty. “I suggest we order in tonight once we’re awake again.” He set the clock back down and rolled back over to face her. “I kinda feel bad abandoning your brother so we can sleep.”

Audrey made a face. “He’ll be fine. He can watch a movie on his laptop or something.”

“Yeah, I gave him my WiFi password so he can get online.”

“Cool,” Audrey yawned, stretching her arm out to rest across his chest as she curled into his side. “I love you,” she whispered.

Noel smiled, turning his head enough to rest his head against hers. “I love you, too.”

Within moments, the pair succumbed to the Sandman.