Bulletproof (epilogue)
Title: Bulletproof
Author: blasthisass
Rating: PG-13 to NC-17
Summary: AU- when Luke is shot by Colonel Mayer, his condition quickly deteriorates. In order to save his life, Bob calls in a young, hotshot doctor from Texas, brilliant and already making a name for himself.
Disclaimers: All characters and such property of ATWT, CBS and anyone else who can legally take credit for them. If they were mine, I would take infinitely better care of them.
Title from the song by La Roux. There is dialogue from both the time in which the story takes place as well as the LuRe storyline.
A/N: This is unbeta'd, so any mistakes are mine.
Comments much appreciated . . . I love them like Reid loves Luke.
Previous parts: prologue | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 45 | 46 | 47 | 48 | 49 | 50 | 51 | 52
***
Three years later
Katie shifted anxiously in her seat, looking over her shoulder. Brad rolled his eyes at the action, which had been going on for at least the past twenty minutes, thought it wasn’t quite long enough to deter him from shifting his son to his other arm and taking her chin between two fingers, twisting her head back to face Oakdale University’s graduating class of 2011. “Pay attention.”
“He’s late. I can’t believe he’s late,” Katie growled, wrenching her chin playfully out of his hands and throwing him a mockingly dirty look. “I told him that for once he should be on time and of course he’s late. God, he’s a doctor. Aren’t they supposed to have some semblance of punctuality?” she ranted, crossing her arms over her chest.
Brad rocked Jacob lightly on his knee as the child let out a whimper that matched Brad’s chuckle. “Well, teachers should have legible handwriting and I’ve yet to have a professor that does.”
“Yeah, but Brad-” Katie started, but stopped as though her Reid-dar had suddenly pinged and she whirled around in her seat to spot Reid slinking quietly into the gymnasium, looking around for a familiar face. He rolled his eyes obnoxiously when he spotted her waving frantically at him and made his way quickly over, lest he enrage any Oakdale citizens by blocking their views.
He slid into the seat next to Katie and smiled at Brad, who instantly gave him a sympathetic look. They both knew exactly what was coming from Katie.
“I-”
“Can’t believe you’re late,” Reid finished with a smirk, glancing down at the program in his hands and flipping through it absentmindedly.
“Reid, you know how important this is for him and still you couldn’t be on time.”
Reid suppressed a groan, scanning the crowds of graduates before them and hoping to spot that familiar blonde head among the crowds of black. “Please, I haven’t missed it.”
“You’re late,” Katie pointed out for the umpteenth time, as though this was the only argument she could muster. “You don’t know what you’ve missed and what you haven’t.”
“The diplomas haven’t been handed out yet and since neither he nor the dean of the college are speaking, I haven’t missed anything, since the valedictorian’s speech is always the last before the diplomas,” Reid replied, speaking from authority as though he had been present at an infinite number of graduations whilst Katie hadn’t been to any. “Besides, I pick and choose my battles, thank you very much.”
Katie snorted. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means that given the choice of going home, showering, getting yelled at for being late and coming straight from the hospital in my scrubs and smelling like an operating room and getting yelled at, I opted for the former.”
“Yeah . . .” Katie murmured thoughtfully, aiding in the transfer of her son from her husband’s lab to her own. “Scrubs would have certainly resulted in death,” she cooed at Jacob as she bounced him up and down on her lap.
“And if you want someone to blame, blame Annie Judd and Bob,” Reid continued, squinting at the last couple of rows where he presumed those with last names beginning with the letter S were seated.
Katie started, her grip on her son’s chubby baby arms tightening slightly. “What about Annie Judd? Is everything okay?”
Reid looked away from the rows of soon-to-be ex-students and glanced between Katie and her child. “Just a routine follow-up,” he assured her, seeing that plague of motherly fear for the life of a young child. “We haven’t had any complications since the scare two years ago.”
Katie nodded, flashing a reassured glance at Brad, who had instinctively wrapped his arm around her shoulders, as though demonstrating that they would both see things through if anything was to happen to Jacob. She turned to Reid again, obviously not interested in anything that was being said in any of the speeches. “And Bob?”
“Oh, you know, doctorly stuff,” Reid muttered cryptically, though the edges of his lips twitched up microscopically before he adopted his poker face.
“Really? Is that what gets discussed by doctors in a hospital?” Katie muttered sarcastically, flashing him a withering stare. “By golly, I would have never guessed.”
“Please will you pay attention?” Reid groaned, waving a hand as whatever abysmal speaker had been hired to speak at the graduation ceremony finally finished up his grueling speech and the dean stoop up to introduce the next speaker. “Just job stuff.”
Katie rolled her eyes and leaned back toward Brad, pointing at the brochure they’d been handed at the door and making some quick comment about how she was sure the school could afford a speaker with a little more credibility. It was as the valedictorian’s speech was being announced that she suddenly practically jumped out of her seat and whirled around to face Reid again, clutching Jacob to her chest in case she dropped him in her excitement. “Oh my God!” she exclaimed, throwing an apologetic look at the people who threw her death glares, implying that they dearly wished for her to lower her voice.
Reid didn’t move, listening carefully for his boyfriend’s name to leave the dean’s lips. “Are you having a stroke?” he muttered casually, voice significantly lower than hers had been.
“That depends. He offered you the job, didn’t he?” she demanded, her eyes twinkling gleefully.
“You’re being disrespectful,” he shushed, as though that mattered at all to him.
“Holy shit, he did!” Katie squeaked, jumping up and down in her seat.
Reid have her a withering look, muttering, “Seriously? First you berate me about being late and almost missing Luke’s speech and now that it’s starting you’re simply going to squeak through the entire thing?”
“But Reid-”
“Restrain your wife, will you?” Reid demanded of Brad, who smirked back and took the hand that was lying casually around Katie’s shoulders and placing it nonchalantly over her mouth. She let out a snort and, pressing Jacob carefully to her chest with one hand, removed his from her mouth and placed it back onto her shoulder. She opened her mouth to berate Reid further, but her gaze passed over the stage in the front of the gymnasium and fell silent as she spotted Luke making his way nervously up the steps to the podium in the center.
Luke bit his lip, grateful that he hadn’t tripped on his long graduation robe when he’d been making his way up the stairs. He stood behind the podium looking out onto his graduating class, wondering how it was that he had ever agreed to this. He wasn’t one for being top of his class and he certainly hated speeches. His eyes passed over Casey in one of the front rows, hiding a flask in his jacket and giving Luke a look of mock attendance. Luke smirked at him before scanning the crowds of people for Katie and meeting Reid’s gaze. His heart pounded and he smiled to himself before glancing back at his classmates.
“To be honest,” Luke started, tapping the podium nervously, “I’m a writer; I’m not a public speaker. I could write a speech, but giving one is not entirely my cup of tea-though I’m sure my boyfriend would disagree and call my ‘hissy fits’ worthy of Shakespearean monologs. But this isn’t about him, though I’m sure that at this point again he’d disagree with me. This is about us and since I’m sure you all are as eager to get out of here as I am, I’m going to keep it short.
“Not to be cliché, but . . .” Luke chuckled, “But I suppose if I’m going to do this properly, I’ll have to start with the traditional, ‘Oakdale University, Class of 2011: we never thought this day would come. We crossed days off our calendars, we sat in desperate anticipation in final lectures and exams, but now that it’s here, I’m sorry it is.’ Actually, I suppose that last sentence should probably be erased from the addressal. Don’t misunderstand me. I love this town. I love this school and the friendships I’ve made, the things I’ve learned. But I’m not sorry I’m graduating. I’ve lived here my entire life, thinking that everything I needed was right here and never even considering that the things I may have always wanted came from outside of this town and only got ensnared by accident.” He paused, glancing with a smile at Noah, halfway through the crowd, before meeting Reid’s intense gaze. He suppressed a chuckle at how intently Reid was listening, more so than at any other lecture or conference or even board meeting he had ever attended. “But, I love it nonetheless.
“I’m sure people here expect me to stand here and tell you all that you are the future of this nation. That we will go on to great careers that will help this country and world rise out of a state of terrorism, depression and all things negative and into a golden era. And I’m not trying to say that we won’t,” he seemed to correct himself, smiling encouragingly at the slightly confused looks that he was being given. “We will. We will all proceed to save the world in our own ways and become great doctors or nurses,” he paused, glancing at Alison in one of the back rows, “lawyers,” Casey gave him a fist pump at the acknowledgement, causing a rise of laughter from the crowd of graduates, “even great film directors,” Luke finished, meeting Noah’s gaze steadily.
“You forgot teacher,” Reid muttered critically, receiving a poke from Katie. He rolled his eyes at the fact that Katie was trying to silence him now after having yammered through the first part of Luke’s speech.
“But I think it is wrong for me to stand here and tell you that, now that you’ve graduated, that you must devote your entire lives to graduate school and your jobs and climbing up the social ladder,” Luke continued, looking as though he were reprimanding society as well as his soon-to-be former classmates. “I met a man my freshman year at Oakdale University who seemed to be the very epitome of the speeches given at graduations. He was-sorry, is,” Luke corrected, glancing up at Reid as though he was imagining the older man flashing him an evil glare, “A certifiable genius and he wasn’t-and certainly still isn’t-afraid to let anyone know it. But . . . he was lonely because he’d wrapped himself up in his job and didn’t allow himself anything else, with perhaps the exception of take out menus. And that was who he was. But, of course, our town pulled him in and refused to let him go and, when push came to shove, he realized that his job wasn’t all he was. “ Luke paused, smiling reminiscently as he remembered the moment he was vaguely describing.
“And I think he’s an important example. Our jobs are important. They fuel us, they drive us, and they sustain us in both monetary and intellectually stimulating ways. This man I know is a world class neurosurgeon and I’m sue his job is anything but boring-not every job will offer someone the chance to make the lame walk or the blind see.” Reid glanced from Luke to Noah, who shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “But if we lose ourselves in the way, if we allow them to consume us, then we will never be able to save ourselves, let alone the world that now appears to be resting on our shoulders. So, I bid you now to go out and be that future of our nation that every speech giver tells you that you will, but I also implore you to stop at one point and remember that it is not your career that will solely make you happy, make you yourself. There are also the people in your life that will make your life and your choices worthwhile.”
Luke finished and walked back to his seat in the midst of applause, his cheeks flushed pink with the realization that he had just talked, his notecards abandoned on the podium. He glanced over toward Reid, who was smiling and, if Luke hadn’t known his boyfriend better, then he would have sworn that his eyes were glistening.
Katie, being the sort of woman that she was, was practically bawling and had to hand off Jacob to Brad so that she could freely wipe her tears without having to worry about dropping her baby. She glanced over at Reid, who had that beautifully affectionate look that he reserved only for Luke, only when he did something that made Reid fall, even after what seemed like a lifetime, even more in love with him.
“I bet you wrote that speech, didn’t you, you self-centered jackass?” Katie blubbered slightly, wiping tears from her eyes. She couldn’t help, however, to smirk at her friend.
Reid snorted, turning his attention away from Luke, who had returned his attention to the dean after holding Reid’s gaze for a significant portion of time. “Please. If I had written his speech, he certainly wouldn’t have been allowed to give it,” Reid replied with an evil smirk.
Katie raised a bewildered eyebrow. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Let’s just say . . . I was valedictorian in my time and my speech was deemed . . . too inappropriate for the ears of delicate Harvardians. So they made the salutatorian give a speech.”
“Reid!” Katie reprimanded with a chuckle of amusement, punching him hard on the arm. “You’re kidding me, right?”
Reid shrugged. “It was the only way I could think to get out of giving a speech and, personally, I just wanted to screw with the administration.”
Katie shook her head, leaning forward in her seat as they started to call names. She chuckled as the Snyders and Hughes apparently took it upon themselves to out-cheer each other as the names of their respective family members were called. She and Brad joined in the cheering when Luke’s name was called, with Katie poking Reid in the stomach several times when he attempted to retain some semblance of dignity and chose to look on proudly, but silently, when Luke made his way up the stage again and accepted his diploma. On his way back down his gaze met Reid’s and he transferred his tassel from one side of his graduation cap to the other. Reid rolled his eyes in response and leaned back in his seat, batting Katie’s hand away.
It went pretty quickly after that, the dean making the closing remarks and the graduates filed out amidst a downpour of black graduating caps. Reid stood up, brushing his suit jacket off and trying to escape from Katie and to Luke before she had a chance to berate him. Of course, even after three years, Reid hadn’t quite developed a foolproof escape mechanism for when it came to Katie Perretti-Snyder.
“Okay, because you can’t distract me with your boyfriend’s speech, I will start to freak out again,” she called, running after him and leaving her husband and child in the capable hands of their clan. She stopped him once they got out of the university and her grin matched the intensity of the sun. “He offered you the Chief of Staff position, didn’t he?”
“Please, of course he did,” Reid replied nonchalantly, scanning the crowds for Luke.
Katie snorted at just how full of himself Reid could be. “Wow. I’m sure Kim is pleased.”
“Please, she doesn’t have a say,” Reid snorted.
“What’s Kim pleased about?” Luke’s voice asked, floating over from behind Reid’s shoulder.
Reid started, whirling around and practically beaming at Luke. Katie smiled, marveling more than ever that the uncontrollable expressions that Reid had reserved especially for Luke. “Don’t worry about it,” he murmured, pulling hard on Luke’s gown, causing the blonde to trip into a deep kiss.
Katie rolled her eyes, resisting the urge to tell the men to get a room. “Maybe. But she’s always wanted Chris to succeed his father, so I’m sure she’ll be stomping around the hospital with a dark storm cloud hovering over her head for a couple of days.”
“Yeah, it’s no secret that she’s not too fond of you,” Luke chuckled, pulling away and grinning cheekily at Reid.
Reid rolled his eyes. “Nice speech,” he deflected. “Though you didn’t stick to your initial thesis about it not being about me. Who’s Chris?” he asked Katie, flawlessly maintaining two conversations at once.
Luke laughed, slipping his arms out of his gown before he would boil in the unusually warm, late-May weather. “Bob and Kim’s son. He’s in Africa somewhere, fighting malaria or something. And, please, it wasn’t about you.”
“Because there are at least a dozen world-renowned, certifiably genius neurosurgeons living in Oakdale that you’re friends with,” Reid muttered sarcastically, spotting the bulk of the Snyder clan emerging from the university and quickly winding and arm around Luke to steer him away from the building. Katie smirked and let them walk out alone, going to rejoin her family. “And there’s a Doogie Hughes? Interesting.”
Luke laughed, glancing over his shoulder at his family, but not fighting Reid as he led them to a secluded area. He wasn’t surprised that, even after several years of dating and mingling, Reid still avoided most of Luke’s family like the plague. “Why are you guys talking about Chris, anyway?”
“No reason.”
“Reid,” Luke muttered pointedly.
“I’ll tell you tomorrow.”
“Because the information will be so much more exciting then?” Luke guessed, flopping down on a bench and pulling Reid down next to him.
“Because today is about you,” Reid replied, intertwining their fingers in his lap.
As though the response had triggered, like with Katie, some sort of mental cue, Luke’s mouth dropped open and he shifted in his seat so that he was facing Reid. “Oh, my God. Bob offered you the position, didn’t he?”
“Not talking about it,” Reid replied in a sing-song voice.
Luke pouted and Reid felt himself drawn to his full lips. Thinking he must have gotten himself out of the situation, he leaned in to initiate a make-out session with his newly graduated boyfriend, but Luke leaned back, his eyes twinkling evilly, his hand on Reid’s chest. Reid groaned. “Oh, come on.”
“I’ll make you a deal. One piece of news for another,” Luke offered with a smirk. Reid frowned before nodding cautiously. “It came late, but I’m in.”
Reid let out a surprised chuckle. “University of Chicago?”
“Yup. The teaching program.”
“The school where fun goes to die? You really shouldn’t be too excited,” Reid joked somberly.
“Reid!”
“Luke,” Reid murmured, growing serious and raising a hand to Luke’s cheek and brushing his thumb gently along the cheekbone. “That’s fantastic.”
“You know what else is fantastic?” Luke hinted casually.
Reid let out a groan. “Me being offered the chief of staff position at Memorial?” he pretended to guess.
Luke’s mouth dropped open and his arms flew around Reid’s neck, almost propelling the both of them off of the bench and into the grass. “I knew it!” Luke clucked in amusement, his entire body pressed against Reid’s. He leaned back to look deep into Reid’s eyes before leaning in and connecting their lips. “We should celebrate,” Luke proposed, waggling his eyebrows seductively at Reid once they pulled apart.
Reid considered this for a moment before standing up and looking lovingly at Luke. He thought about Luke’s speech and everything that he had said and he realized just how right Luke was. Reid had never thought that he would find himself three years in a relationship with a guy and still having the same feelings that he had had when they had first laid eyes on each other. When they had first laid with each other. When they had realized that, if you were really in love, the firsts just kept on coming and you didn’t miss the life you had. It was still a part of you in the same way a body part was; it just wasn’t as important as that which was happening and that which you were, at every moment, anticipating.
“Reid?” Luke murmured, standing up and tilting his head. it wasn’t uncertain anymore, like it had been in the beginning. The utterance of Reid’s name was just that-a call back to reality from the world of dreams.
Reid smiled at him and pulled him close, pressing a chaste kiss softly into Luke’s lips. “I love you.”
Luke smiled, hearts practically exploding from his eyes like in a cartoon. “I love you too. Hence the celebration,” he winked.
“But the tribe is throwing a party. Emma is cooking pie,” Reid muttered. Luke laughed, thoroughly amused and mockingly hurt to see just where Reid’s priorities continued to lie. But it didn’t bother him. When he was freshman in college, just getting the hang of his life, he would have cared. But he knew that in Reid’s book he always came first and, really, some things just never changed and for that, Luke was eternally grateful.
“When we go home, then?” he inquired, slipping his hand into Reid’s and pulling them back to the land of chaos and drama, which somehow seemed unable to touch them anymore.
Reid followed, no longer resisting. “Ah, yes. A celebration tonight and for the rest of our lives,” he murmured, simply waiting for Luke to call him out on his intermittent sentimentality. Luke never failed to do so.
“God, you’re such a closeted sap, aren’t you?”
The End
Author: blasthisass
Rating: PG-13 to NC-17
Summary: AU- when Luke is shot by Colonel Mayer, his condition quickly deteriorates. In order to save his life, Bob calls in a young, hotshot doctor from Texas, brilliant and already making a name for himself.
Disclaimers: All characters and such property of ATWT, CBS and anyone else who can legally take credit for them. If they were mine, I would take infinitely better care of them.
Title from the song by La Roux. There is dialogue from both the time in which the story takes place as well as the LuRe storyline.
A/N: This is unbeta'd, so any mistakes are mine.
Comments much appreciated . . . I love them like Reid loves Luke.
Previous parts: prologue | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 45 | 46 | 47 | 48 | 49 | 50 | 51 | 52
***
Three years later
Katie shifted anxiously in her seat, looking over her shoulder. Brad rolled his eyes at the action, which had been going on for at least the past twenty minutes, thought it wasn’t quite long enough to deter him from shifting his son to his other arm and taking her chin between two fingers, twisting her head back to face Oakdale University’s graduating class of 2011. “Pay attention.”
“He’s late. I can’t believe he’s late,” Katie growled, wrenching her chin playfully out of his hands and throwing him a mockingly dirty look. “I told him that for once he should be on time and of course he’s late. God, he’s a doctor. Aren’t they supposed to have some semblance of punctuality?” she ranted, crossing her arms over her chest.
Brad rocked Jacob lightly on his knee as the child let out a whimper that matched Brad’s chuckle. “Well, teachers should have legible handwriting and I’ve yet to have a professor that does.”
“Yeah, but Brad-” Katie started, but stopped as though her Reid-dar had suddenly pinged and she whirled around in her seat to spot Reid slinking quietly into the gymnasium, looking around for a familiar face. He rolled his eyes obnoxiously when he spotted her waving frantically at him and made his way quickly over, lest he enrage any Oakdale citizens by blocking their views.
He slid into the seat next to Katie and smiled at Brad, who instantly gave him a sympathetic look. They both knew exactly what was coming from Katie.
“I-”
“Can’t believe you’re late,” Reid finished with a smirk, glancing down at the program in his hands and flipping through it absentmindedly.
“Reid, you know how important this is for him and still you couldn’t be on time.”
Reid suppressed a groan, scanning the crowds of graduates before them and hoping to spot that familiar blonde head among the crowds of black. “Please, I haven’t missed it.”
“You’re late,” Katie pointed out for the umpteenth time, as though this was the only argument she could muster. “You don’t know what you’ve missed and what you haven’t.”
“The diplomas haven’t been handed out yet and since neither he nor the dean of the college are speaking, I haven’t missed anything, since the valedictorian’s speech is always the last before the diplomas,” Reid replied, speaking from authority as though he had been present at an infinite number of graduations whilst Katie hadn’t been to any. “Besides, I pick and choose my battles, thank you very much.”
Katie snorted. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means that given the choice of going home, showering, getting yelled at for being late and coming straight from the hospital in my scrubs and smelling like an operating room and getting yelled at, I opted for the former.”
“Yeah . . .” Katie murmured thoughtfully, aiding in the transfer of her son from her husband’s lab to her own. “Scrubs would have certainly resulted in death,” she cooed at Jacob as she bounced him up and down on her lap.
“And if you want someone to blame, blame Annie Judd and Bob,” Reid continued, squinting at the last couple of rows where he presumed those with last names beginning with the letter S were seated.
Katie started, her grip on her son’s chubby baby arms tightening slightly. “What about Annie Judd? Is everything okay?”
Reid looked away from the rows of soon-to-be ex-students and glanced between Katie and her child. “Just a routine follow-up,” he assured her, seeing that plague of motherly fear for the life of a young child. “We haven’t had any complications since the scare two years ago.”
Katie nodded, flashing a reassured glance at Brad, who had instinctively wrapped his arm around her shoulders, as though demonstrating that they would both see things through if anything was to happen to Jacob. She turned to Reid again, obviously not interested in anything that was being said in any of the speeches. “And Bob?”
“Oh, you know, doctorly stuff,” Reid muttered cryptically, though the edges of his lips twitched up microscopically before he adopted his poker face.
“Really? Is that what gets discussed by doctors in a hospital?” Katie muttered sarcastically, flashing him a withering stare. “By golly, I would have never guessed.”
“Please will you pay attention?” Reid groaned, waving a hand as whatever abysmal speaker had been hired to speak at the graduation ceremony finally finished up his grueling speech and the dean stoop up to introduce the next speaker. “Just job stuff.”
Katie rolled her eyes and leaned back toward Brad, pointing at the brochure they’d been handed at the door and making some quick comment about how she was sure the school could afford a speaker with a little more credibility. It was as the valedictorian’s speech was being announced that she suddenly practically jumped out of her seat and whirled around to face Reid again, clutching Jacob to her chest in case she dropped him in her excitement. “Oh my God!” she exclaimed, throwing an apologetic look at the people who threw her death glares, implying that they dearly wished for her to lower her voice.
Reid didn’t move, listening carefully for his boyfriend’s name to leave the dean’s lips. “Are you having a stroke?” he muttered casually, voice significantly lower than hers had been.
“That depends. He offered you the job, didn’t he?” she demanded, her eyes twinkling gleefully.
“You’re being disrespectful,” he shushed, as though that mattered at all to him.
“Holy shit, he did!” Katie squeaked, jumping up and down in her seat.
Reid have her a withering look, muttering, “Seriously? First you berate me about being late and almost missing Luke’s speech and now that it’s starting you’re simply going to squeak through the entire thing?”
“But Reid-”
“Restrain your wife, will you?” Reid demanded of Brad, who smirked back and took the hand that was lying casually around Katie’s shoulders and placing it nonchalantly over her mouth. She let out a snort and, pressing Jacob carefully to her chest with one hand, removed his from her mouth and placed it back onto her shoulder. She opened her mouth to berate Reid further, but her gaze passed over the stage in the front of the gymnasium and fell silent as she spotted Luke making his way nervously up the steps to the podium in the center.
Luke bit his lip, grateful that he hadn’t tripped on his long graduation robe when he’d been making his way up the stairs. He stood behind the podium looking out onto his graduating class, wondering how it was that he had ever agreed to this. He wasn’t one for being top of his class and he certainly hated speeches. His eyes passed over Casey in one of the front rows, hiding a flask in his jacket and giving Luke a look of mock attendance. Luke smirked at him before scanning the crowds of people for Katie and meeting Reid’s gaze. His heart pounded and he smiled to himself before glancing back at his classmates.
“To be honest,” Luke started, tapping the podium nervously, “I’m a writer; I’m not a public speaker. I could write a speech, but giving one is not entirely my cup of tea-though I’m sure my boyfriend would disagree and call my ‘hissy fits’ worthy of Shakespearean monologs. But this isn’t about him, though I’m sure that at this point again he’d disagree with me. This is about us and since I’m sure you all are as eager to get out of here as I am, I’m going to keep it short.
“Not to be cliché, but . . .” Luke chuckled, “But I suppose if I’m going to do this properly, I’ll have to start with the traditional, ‘Oakdale University, Class of 2011: we never thought this day would come. We crossed days off our calendars, we sat in desperate anticipation in final lectures and exams, but now that it’s here, I’m sorry it is.’ Actually, I suppose that last sentence should probably be erased from the addressal. Don’t misunderstand me. I love this town. I love this school and the friendships I’ve made, the things I’ve learned. But I’m not sorry I’m graduating. I’ve lived here my entire life, thinking that everything I needed was right here and never even considering that the things I may have always wanted came from outside of this town and only got ensnared by accident.” He paused, glancing with a smile at Noah, halfway through the crowd, before meeting Reid’s intense gaze. He suppressed a chuckle at how intently Reid was listening, more so than at any other lecture or conference or even board meeting he had ever attended. “But, I love it nonetheless.
“I’m sure people here expect me to stand here and tell you all that you are the future of this nation. That we will go on to great careers that will help this country and world rise out of a state of terrorism, depression and all things negative and into a golden era. And I’m not trying to say that we won’t,” he seemed to correct himself, smiling encouragingly at the slightly confused looks that he was being given. “We will. We will all proceed to save the world in our own ways and become great doctors or nurses,” he paused, glancing at Alison in one of the back rows, “lawyers,” Casey gave him a fist pump at the acknowledgement, causing a rise of laughter from the crowd of graduates, “even great film directors,” Luke finished, meeting Noah’s gaze steadily.
“You forgot teacher,” Reid muttered critically, receiving a poke from Katie. He rolled his eyes at the fact that Katie was trying to silence him now after having yammered through the first part of Luke’s speech.
“But I think it is wrong for me to stand here and tell you that, now that you’ve graduated, that you must devote your entire lives to graduate school and your jobs and climbing up the social ladder,” Luke continued, looking as though he were reprimanding society as well as his soon-to-be former classmates. “I met a man my freshman year at Oakdale University who seemed to be the very epitome of the speeches given at graduations. He was-sorry, is,” Luke corrected, glancing up at Reid as though he was imagining the older man flashing him an evil glare, “A certifiable genius and he wasn’t-and certainly still isn’t-afraid to let anyone know it. But . . . he was lonely because he’d wrapped himself up in his job and didn’t allow himself anything else, with perhaps the exception of take out menus. And that was who he was. But, of course, our town pulled him in and refused to let him go and, when push came to shove, he realized that his job wasn’t all he was. “ Luke paused, smiling reminiscently as he remembered the moment he was vaguely describing.
“And I think he’s an important example. Our jobs are important. They fuel us, they drive us, and they sustain us in both monetary and intellectually stimulating ways. This man I know is a world class neurosurgeon and I’m sue his job is anything but boring-not every job will offer someone the chance to make the lame walk or the blind see.” Reid glanced from Luke to Noah, who shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “But if we lose ourselves in the way, if we allow them to consume us, then we will never be able to save ourselves, let alone the world that now appears to be resting on our shoulders. So, I bid you now to go out and be that future of our nation that every speech giver tells you that you will, but I also implore you to stop at one point and remember that it is not your career that will solely make you happy, make you yourself. There are also the people in your life that will make your life and your choices worthwhile.”
Luke finished and walked back to his seat in the midst of applause, his cheeks flushed pink with the realization that he had just talked, his notecards abandoned on the podium. He glanced over toward Reid, who was smiling and, if Luke hadn’t known his boyfriend better, then he would have sworn that his eyes were glistening.
Katie, being the sort of woman that she was, was practically bawling and had to hand off Jacob to Brad so that she could freely wipe her tears without having to worry about dropping her baby. She glanced over at Reid, who had that beautifully affectionate look that he reserved only for Luke, only when he did something that made Reid fall, even after what seemed like a lifetime, even more in love with him.
“I bet you wrote that speech, didn’t you, you self-centered jackass?” Katie blubbered slightly, wiping tears from her eyes. She couldn’t help, however, to smirk at her friend.
Reid snorted, turning his attention away from Luke, who had returned his attention to the dean after holding Reid’s gaze for a significant portion of time. “Please. If I had written his speech, he certainly wouldn’t have been allowed to give it,” Reid replied with an evil smirk.
Katie raised a bewildered eyebrow. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Let’s just say . . . I was valedictorian in my time and my speech was deemed . . . too inappropriate for the ears of delicate Harvardians. So they made the salutatorian give a speech.”
“Reid!” Katie reprimanded with a chuckle of amusement, punching him hard on the arm. “You’re kidding me, right?”
Reid shrugged. “It was the only way I could think to get out of giving a speech and, personally, I just wanted to screw with the administration.”
Katie shook her head, leaning forward in her seat as they started to call names. She chuckled as the Snyders and Hughes apparently took it upon themselves to out-cheer each other as the names of their respective family members were called. She and Brad joined in the cheering when Luke’s name was called, with Katie poking Reid in the stomach several times when he attempted to retain some semblance of dignity and chose to look on proudly, but silently, when Luke made his way up the stage again and accepted his diploma. On his way back down his gaze met Reid’s and he transferred his tassel from one side of his graduation cap to the other. Reid rolled his eyes in response and leaned back in his seat, batting Katie’s hand away.
It went pretty quickly after that, the dean making the closing remarks and the graduates filed out amidst a downpour of black graduating caps. Reid stood up, brushing his suit jacket off and trying to escape from Katie and to Luke before she had a chance to berate him. Of course, even after three years, Reid hadn’t quite developed a foolproof escape mechanism for when it came to Katie Perretti-Snyder.
“Okay, because you can’t distract me with your boyfriend’s speech, I will start to freak out again,” she called, running after him and leaving her husband and child in the capable hands of their clan. She stopped him once they got out of the university and her grin matched the intensity of the sun. “He offered you the Chief of Staff position, didn’t he?”
“Please, of course he did,” Reid replied nonchalantly, scanning the crowds for Luke.
Katie snorted at just how full of himself Reid could be. “Wow. I’m sure Kim is pleased.”
“Please, she doesn’t have a say,” Reid snorted.
“What’s Kim pleased about?” Luke’s voice asked, floating over from behind Reid’s shoulder.
Reid started, whirling around and practically beaming at Luke. Katie smiled, marveling more than ever that the uncontrollable expressions that Reid had reserved especially for Luke. “Don’t worry about it,” he murmured, pulling hard on Luke’s gown, causing the blonde to trip into a deep kiss.
Katie rolled her eyes, resisting the urge to tell the men to get a room. “Maybe. But she’s always wanted Chris to succeed his father, so I’m sure she’ll be stomping around the hospital with a dark storm cloud hovering over her head for a couple of days.”
“Yeah, it’s no secret that she’s not too fond of you,” Luke chuckled, pulling away and grinning cheekily at Reid.
Reid rolled his eyes. “Nice speech,” he deflected. “Though you didn’t stick to your initial thesis about it not being about me. Who’s Chris?” he asked Katie, flawlessly maintaining two conversations at once.
Luke laughed, slipping his arms out of his gown before he would boil in the unusually warm, late-May weather. “Bob and Kim’s son. He’s in Africa somewhere, fighting malaria or something. And, please, it wasn’t about you.”
“Because there are at least a dozen world-renowned, certifiably genius neurosurgeons living in Oakdale that you’re friends with,” Reid muttered sarcastically, spotting the bulk of the Snyder clan emerging from the university and quickly winding and arm around Luke to steer him away from the building. Katie smirked and let them walk out alone, going to rejoin her family. “And there’s a Doogie Hughes? Interesting.”
Luke laughed, glancing over his shoulder at his family, but not fighting Reid as he led them to a secluded area. He wasn’t surprised that, even after several years of dating and mingling, Reid still avoided most of Luke’s family like the plague. “Why are you guys talking about Chris, anyway?”
“No reason.”
“Reid,” Luke muttered pointedly.
“I’ll tell you tomorrow.”
“Because the information will be so much more exciting then?” Luke guessed, flopping down on a bench and pulling Reid down next to him.
“Because today is about you,” Reid replied, intertwining their fingers in his lap.
As though the response had triggered, like with Katie, some sort of mental cue, Luke’s mouth dropped open and he shifted in his seat so that he was facing Reid. “Oh, my God. Bob offered you the position, didn’t he?”
“Not talking about it,” Reid replied in a sing-song voice.
Luke pouted and Reid felt himself drawn to his full lips. Thinking he must have gotten himself out of the situation, he leaned in to initiate a make-out session with his newly graduated boyfriend, but Luke leaned back, his eyes twinkling evilly, his hand on Reid’s chest. Reid groaned. “Oh, come on.”
“I’ll make you a deal. One piece of news for another,” Luke offered with a smirk. Reid frowned before nodding cautiously. “It came late, but I’m in.”
Reid let out a surprised chuckle. “University of Chicago?”
“Yup. The teaching program.”
“The school where fun goes to die? You really shouldn’t be too excited,” Reid joked somberly.
“Reid!”
“Luke,” Reid murmured, growing serious and raising a hand to Luke’s cheek and brushing his thumb gently along the cheekbone. “That’s fantastic.”
“You know what else is fantastic?” Luke hinted casually.
Reid let out a groan. “Me being offered the chief of staff position at Memorial?” he pretended to guess.
Luke’s mouth dropped open and his arms flew around Reid’s neck, almost propelling the both of them off of the bench and into the grass. “I knew it!” Luke clucked in amusement, his entire body pressed against Reid’s. He leaned back to look deep into Reid’s eyes before leaning in and connecting their lips. “We should celebrate,” Luke proposed, waggling his eyebrows seductively at Reid once they pulled apart.
Reid considered this for a moment before standing up and looking lovingly at Luke. He thought about Luke’s speech and everything that he had said and he realized just how right Luke was. Reid had never thought that he would find himself three years in a relationship with a guy and still having the same feelings that he had had when they had first laid eyes on each other. When they had first laid with each other. When they had realized that, if you were really in love, the firsts just kept on coming and you didn’t miss the life you had. It was still a part of you in the same way a body part was; it just wasn’t as important as that which was happening and that which you were, at every moment, anticipating.
“Reid?” Luke murmured, standing up and tilting his head. it wasn’t uncertain anymore, like it had been in the beginning. The utterance of Reid’s name was just that-a call back to reality from the world of dreams.
Reid smiled at him and pulled him close, pressing a chaste kiss softly into Luke’s lips. “I love you.”
Luke smiled, hearts practically exploding from his eyes like in a cartoon. “I love you too. Hence the celebration,” he winked.
“But the tribe is throwing a party. Emma is cooking pie,” Reid muttered. Luke laughed, thoroughly amused and mockingly hurt to see just where Reid’s priorities continued to lie. But it didn’t bother him. When he was freshman in college, just getting the hang of his life, he would have cared. But he knew that in Reid’s book he always came first and, really, some things just never changed and for that, Luke was eternally grateful.
“When we go home, then?” he inquired, slipping his hand into Reid’s and pulling them back to the land of chaos and drama, which somehow seemed unable to touch them anymore.
Reid followed, no longer resisting. “Ah, yes. A celebration tonight and for the rest of our lives,” he murmured, simply waiting for Luke to call him out on his intermittent sentimentality. Luke never failed to do so.
“God, you’re such a closeted sap, aren’t you?”
The End