Still of the Night
Title: Still of the Night
Author: CSIGeekFan
Disclaimer: I don't own or profit from the show or its owners. I just like playing with the characters and hope I don't offend.
Rating: PG
Author's Note: This is written for the wonderful smoothlikebutta, for a generous donation to aide in the disaster in Japan. I hope this is what you were looking for with the prompts you provided. :)
X X X
He loved to come here at night. It seemed that the world softened, and he could pretend everything was alright.
In those rare, precious moments, Dr. Reid Oliver-Snyder could watch his husband's face go lax in sleep, holding their small son close to his chest. God, when had it come to this?
He'd never been one to beg for answers. As a physician, he knew that shit happened. Frequently. Sometimes it happened to him, and sometimes to his patients. Luke had experienced kidney failure just six months before their wedding, and Reid had thought they'd had enough - that maybe fate or karma or whoever the hell makes up the rules would've called a halt and given them some peace.
For awhile, they'd had that day-in and day-out humdrum that made life worth living. Then Luke had given him that look and next thing Reid knew, they were adding onto their family. It hadn't been a moment Reid had been particularly excited about - getting excited and being all emotional was Luke's thing.
The day their surrogate had given birth to Aiden, though, Reid had stood there like a new dad - proud, scared, and so full of awe he'd been rendered speechless.
Luke's father, Holden, had teased Reid mercilessly, because the good doctor hadn't said a word, just stood there slack-jawed. Then the older man had caught the tears in the stoic doctor's eyes and done them both a kindness by simplifying the moment to a 'manly' hug and thump on the shoulder.
"I can hear you thinking all the way over here," Luke murmured from his rocking chair. Once again, he'd fallen asleep with Aiden curled into his chest. Lately, it seemed like it was all he could do just to make it to the old wooden rocker and settle into a sway before father and son succumbed to the emotional fatigue that plagued their family.
"I'm just thinking that even after all this time, you take my breath away," Reid murmured, watching Luke's eyes pop open wide. Pleased. Then the younger man's face softened as he looked between his husband and his son.
Awkward after that sappy comment, even after all these years, Reid stepped into the dimly lit hospital room and changed the subject. It didn't take much to lift Aiden out of Luke's arms and into his own. The smell of baby powder followed, making him smile, even if the sight of the bald five-year-old head curved under his chin broke his heart.
"Just a couple more weeks," Luke murmured. Rising to stand next to the man with whom he'd chosen to spend his life, he wound his arms around man and child, and added, "Not too long and we can go home."
Moments like this hit Reid harder than any other - when optimism reigned, pushing aside a cynical, hard world, and for a moment they could just be happy.
Luke would understand why he didn't reply. He didn't need to embarrass himself by breaking down in great, sobbing breaths. That had happened often enough over the last eight months of chemotherapy and frailty.
With his eyes clamped shut, Reid let Luke stroke his cheek, wiping away the salty evidence.
X X X
"He looks like you," Reid murmured, stepping into Aiden's bedroom. "Six months of hair growth, and he's all spiky again. I'm pretty sure it's pathetic that you wear it the same way. The kid doesn't need hair gel, though."
The darkened room, lit by a Batman nightlight, cast a soft glow across the six-year-old that lay drooling on his matching pillowcase. Blond hair stuck out in every direction, and his chubby cheeks winked with dimples even in his sleep.
"He's going to be a heartbreaker," Luke declared, winding his arm around his husband's waist. He snuggled a little when Reid swung an arm over his shoulder.
For his part, Reid rolled his eyes, and replied, "He already is. In case you haven't noticed, Lucinda, Lily, Faith, and Natalie give him the little Romeo treatment. Emma comes up with a thousand excuses to have him spend time at the farm when she's in town, and Katie hijacks him on a regular basis."
Luke snorted a laugh in reply. Turning his head, with his arms still wrapped around Reid's waist, and Reid's arm slung over his shoulder, he kissed a stubbly cheek and said, "You're the worst one of all. Every chance you get to be alone, you dote, dote, dote."
Reid chose to ignore the comment. Better to be silent than to lie.
"We almost lost him," Luke whispered.
Listening to the tears in his husband's voice, Reid turned, pressed a kiss to Luke's temple, and replied, "But we didn't."
X X X
Reid choked on his post-dinner sandwich when Luke and Aiden walked into the room.
"What the hell?" he asked, staring intently.
"Whatcha think?" ten-year-old Aiden asked, grinning from ear to ear.
Reid stared, with his eyebrows shooting straight up, and took in the sight before him. Standing in the middle of the living room, dressed in identical business suits, both Luke and Aiden sported the same haircut, same grin, and same amount of gel. They even stood alike with their arms crossed and smiling. Wearing the same sunglasses.
Looking at his husband, he laughed and asked, "Is it Halloween already?"
The last time he checked, he could've sworn autumn had just started. Then again, last year he'd somehow skipped an entire month without noticing.
Aiden replied with a look that made Reid proud. Their boy might be a miniature version of Luke, but he had his other father's smart mouth and are you stupid attitude. In fact, the child wore that look at that very moment.
"Duh," Aiden replied, tapping his foot impatiently (another quirk he picked up from Reid). "It's Take Your Son To Work day. So Dad's taking me to a fundraiser."
With a smirk, Reid winked at his son, looked at his husband, and said, "Good luck taking over the world."
He didn't have to be back at the hospital tonight, had a game on the television, a huge sandwich in front of him, and an awesome family. Life didn't get better than this.
X X X
Sitting on the edge of the hospital bed, Reid watched his son sleep. Midnight had barely passed, and the hospital had settled a little into its own quiet thrum of injury and illness.
Luke had been ordered back to his own bed more than an hour ago, with Reid's promise to find a way to get father and son a room together in the morning.
Reid had been reviewing the boards six hours ago, when the call had come in. Seventeen car pile-up on the highway. A bus of junior high kids on their way home from a basketball game was being brought in. His heart had nearly stopped. The two most important people in his world had been away at that tournament, and on their way home.
"Pops?" thirteen-year-old Aiden croaked.
"Right here," Reid murmured, catching the signs of pain in the tone. His son had a way of crinkling his brow and licking his lips when he didn't feel well.
"Where's Dad?" the young teen asked, looking up with enormous brown eyes. "Is Dad okay?"
With a thankful hand, Reid settled his palm over his son's forehead and smiled down at the boy. Luckily, in the end, he'd only suffered a concussion - enough to concern Reid, but not enough to truly worry him.
"He's got a broken leg, some lacerations, and contusions," Reid replied. What he didn't add was how his husband had been thrown, and how Luke had landed in a way that had bruised his kidney. He didn't put into words the aching worry that coursed through his chest at the sight of his husband demanding to see their child, no matter the pain he suffered.
Reid could tell Aiden didn't fully buy the story, but it was the best he could do at the moment.
X X X
"Whatever," Aiden muttered as he stormed past Luke and up the stairs, ignoring his fathers altogether.
From the doorway, Luke watched, and police Captain Jack Snyder sighed. It seemed only right Jack be the one to deliver the sixteen-year-old home to his parents that night. The stench of alcohol in the boy's path told the story of what Aiden and his friends had been up to before Luke's cousin had intervened.
Reid, for his part, just listened to Jack clinically lay out the facts. However, his eyes watched the way Luke worried his lower lip with his teeth, and shot glances toward the staircase.
Of course his husband worried, Reid thought. Luke could so easily remember that time in his life when he'd drunk himself nearly to death. That craving - that want - still settled into Luke's chest at times, but it had been nearly two decades since taking a single drop. The physician in Reid applauded his husband for being smart. The husband in him couldn't be more proud.
Silently, he laid a hand on Luke's shoulder, nodded at Jack, and headed for the stairs.
Their son might not be a drunk, but he needed to hear a story about a young man who once-upon-a-time used alcohol to escape his own fears and pain. Reid figured he was the best man to tell it.
X X X
Standing behind his son, Reid smiled as the young man tied a Windsor knot and clipped the silk tie to his crisp, white shirt.
"You look much like your father," Reid softly said, smiling at the image of the young man in the mirror. "So much like him…"
He had the same blond hair, only Aiden wore his smoothed down. Luke had never been one to go for a simple cut when gel could make his blond locks do so much more. When Aiden smiled, his face lit up Reid's world. The way he stood, the way he laughed, the way he spoke…
"Pops," Aiden said, turning around and pulling his father into a tight hug.
Reid didn't realize he was crying until his child wiped away his tears. He impatiently huffed out a breath instead, and smiled. Then, in true fashion, he added, "If you ever tell your father about this, I'm cutting you out of my will."
"And what will I tell him?" Aiden wryly asked. "That you cried like a baby at the thought of renewing your vows?"
With his son by his side, they headed toward the front of the church. Luke had gone all out, illuminating the room with soft candlelight. Sitting near the front, Holden held back a laugh, when he heard his grandson ask, "Better yet, should I tell him about the sandwich you hid under the altar?"