A Life Well-Lived, Chapter 6
A Life Well-Lived
by CSIGeekFan
Disclaimer: I don’t own the characters from the show.
Author’s Note: I want to give a big shout out to lucsmum and seattlecsifan for their wonderful beta work.
Chapter 6
That afternoon, Kyle made his way back out to the pond.
He didn’t bring fishing gear. The rod and reel stayed in their canisters, hanging from the barn rafters. The lures and vests were tucked away in their proper place, along with the rods. Instead, he brought with him his notebook of blank paper, and his grandfather’s book. The pages remained blank, though. His mind drifted instead.
Kyle settled on the gravelly bank, let the sound of the world around him settle into a gentle rhythm, and opened the book. He began to read once again.
“Coming generations will learn equality from poverty, and love from woes.” - Kahlil Gibran
Luke had always been the emotional one in his relationship with Reid, or so everyone thought.
Typically, the good doctor would remain stoic, falling apart only when necessary. And only alone. The exception to this rule came in the form of the children. Very few understood the depth of love and devotion Reid held for all the generations of children in his life. But unlike his husband, Reid refused to wear his affection on his sleeve. These weren’t his ‘babies.’ No, they were his pride.
It started with Jacob. Through the generations - his surrogate son, his own son, his grandchildren, and eventually his great-grandchild - Reid watched with a certain amount of well-earned pride.
Jacob had always been a favorite of the neurosurgeon. Between Katie’s open heart and Reid’s ability to argue, the kid had grown into a cross between the two. Many thanked God that Henry Coleman - Katie’s best friend -had played a big part in the kid’s life. Oakdale didn’t need another Reid Oliver. Somehow, the boy ended up with the best of those around him. He could argue, become belligerent, and allow his stubbornness to rule. But he did so with the kindest of hearts, and a great compassion.
Until the day she passed away, Katie smirked whenever Reid and Jacob argued, because her baby could actually beat Reid at his own game. As a little boy, he’d learned to verbally spar. In adulthood, little Jacob had become a master, and even learned to win now and again - much to Reid’s dismay.
But secretly, the older man squealed inside, and felt pride in his young prodigy.
He felt the same when his and Luke’s son David had come screaming into the world. And even though he didn’t often show it to those that lived right outside their home, he adored his son. Even so, only his husband ever knew Reid’s level of love and adoration towards the children in their lives.
Only Luke truly understood that Reid found his salvation in them.
Every young soul that came into their lives forced Reid to become more and more the man he’d always wished to be. They gifted him with absolute love. They never judged. They always accepted. While most saw blatant arrogance, Luke found fear and insecurity running rampant in his husband’s soul.
The children, though, saw even more; and they gave Reid that balm of absolute acceptance that no one else could ever see he so desperately needed. Even as his spirit calmed over the years, the children still gave the old doctor something that no one else (not even Luke) could ever truly provide.
They gave him peace.
And written in the margins, Reid had drawn a frowny face and written:
Remind me to show you how much I love you tonight.
X X X X X
When he visited with his grandfathers the following morning, Kyle watched them with quiet intent. He’d always known Reid and Luke. They’d been a big force in his life since the day he’d been born. Yet, they had always just been his great-grandfathers. He saw them several times a week, but they weren’t his parents. So he didn’t know them the way his mother and uncles would - he hadn’t been raised in their constant presence.
Reading about them in Luke’s words opened his eyes. They were so much more than old men, or even pillars of the community. As he watched Luke’s arthritic fingers stroke calmingly down Reid’s lean, wrinkled face, he could see so much more. It had always been there. But looking now, and really knowing the depth and breadth of the love Luke wrote of made the simple gesture seem so much more.
“It’s got to be hard,” Kyle quietly said, as he watched his granddad Luke hold onto the hand of a confused and wary Reid. When Luke looked up, his great-grandson smiled Reid’s smile and sympathetically added, “I don’t know how you do it.”
“Oh, baby,” Luke murmured, reaching out an aged hand, while he kept his forever-love anchored with the other. “It’s not so hard.”
With a confidence gained through time and perseverance, the old man smiled. Laugh lines etched his face, and age spots dimmed just a little in the light of that grin. Luke Oliver looked a hundred years younger in that moment - one hand on his husband and the other on his great-grandchild.
“He remembers me,” he said. “Your great grandfather remembers me with his soul, even when he forgets me with his mind.” Luke nodded to their intertwined hands, and continued, “He remembers me with his smile and the way he trusts me to give him comfort.”
“How?” Kyle finally asked, seeing the truth behind those words. He knew what dementia meant, and he knew the degree to which his granddad Reid suffered.
“It’s so easy,” Luke replied with a contented sigh. His eyes sparkled bright with unshed tears of joy when he said, “Every day, we’ve loved. Every day we’ve given ourselves.” Old hand squeezed young. “And every single day, ours has been a life well and truly lived.”
X X X X X
That night, Kyle and Lily joined Luke and Reid at the mansion.
The boy sighed in relief when the snarky old bastard answered the door and shouted, “That tasteless juvenile delinquent’s back! Hide the silver!”
“Gee, thanks, old man,” Kyle replied with a grin.
From there, the comments flew. Sharp barbs were tossed like grenades all through dinner, with the nearly century-old former neurosurgeon showing no mercy. No great surprise. The kid didn’t either. And both of them had a brilliant time.
After the dessert had been finished and the conversation ebbed, Luke reached out a hand, drew his granddaughter to her feet, and said, “Walk with me.”
And so Reid and Kyle found themselves alone.
In the past, they would’ve wandered down to the media room, flipped on a sports event or a movie, and settled in to watch. This time, though, with Reid’s mind clear, Kyle felt compelled to talk.
As they headed towards one of many sitting rooms, the teen asked, “Are you scared?”
Step after step, he waited, until a full minute later he began to wonder if his great-grandfather would answer. He’d felt a little unsure of asking the question in the first place, so he was prepared to drop the topic altogether. That was why it surprised him when the raspy old voice broke the quiet.
“Yeah,” Reid replied. “I hate the thing that’s doing me in is the only thing that kept me sane when I was your age.”
“Your mind?” Kyle asked, curious what the old man meant.
“The brain,” Reid replied. “In my darkest hour, when I had absolutely no one, studying the human brain shone a light and motivated me.”
“Do you still love it?”
“Of course,” Kyle’s great-grandfather replied, with a well, duh tone. His voice gentled, though, and he stopped in his tracks. He laid his hand on Kyle’s arm to stop the young man, too, and gain his full attention, before he added, “But my light comes from so much more now. I haven’t been alone in the dark since an arrogant, spiky haired, young philanthropist blackmailed me decades ago.”
“Blackmailed?” Kyle asked with a grin. He hadn’t heard this story. “Do tell.”
And so Reid relayed his version of how he’d come to Oakdale over the course of the next hour, while Kyle listened with raised brows and a grin. He listened while Reid talked about being brought to Oakdale against his will. And how he’d done the impossible - he’d fallen in love.
All the while, all Kyle could think was, Go Grandpa Luke.
“Accept the things to which fate binds you, and love the people with whom fate brings you together, but do so with all your heart.” - Marcus Aurelius
Reid Oliver didn’t surprise his husband very often.
Rarely did he exhibit displays of emotion. Never flamboyantly and only a few times in public. That he only forgot three anniversaries in nearly fifty years of marriage surprised many. Very few understand the depth of guilt the man felt those rare times he simply forgot something important to Luke.
Even though the younger man understood his husband’s dedication to his patients, Reid simply couldn’t forgive himself. So he made a point early on in their marriage to set up schedules.
Methodically, he remembered birthdays and anniversaries - not just Luke’s, but Katie’s and Jacob’s, Bob’s and Kim’s. Even Hank’s.
He attended weddings, scowling the entire time. That never surprised Luke, since Reid had scowled through their own intimate commitment ceremony.
So it surprised the younger man, leaving him silent and shocked, when he walked into the house one night, tossed his keys on the side table, and looked around. He didn’t need to turn on a light. A trail of candles flickered in the dark, leading Luke down the corridor of the mansion in which they lived. Like a trail of bread crumbs, he sauntered along the path of flickering candlelight, with his heart pounding in his chest.
Three rooms, a flight of steps, and two more corridors brought him to the west wing of their home - an area rarely used.
Years ago, it had housed an artist’s studio. Luke knew, because he’d tried his hand at painting, and utterly failed. Not that it mattered, because he’d found body paints instead, and delighted his husband with them in a different room.
The door stood open as he approached, and Luke couldn’t help but smile when he saw Reid standing in front of a bay of windows. Behind the now-gray haired man, the moon shone down through the panes, making those soft curls glow. Like a halo.
That seemed fitting, though, considering Reid would always be his angel, Luke mused.
And didn’t he look dapper in his trousers and burgundy shirt? His eyes stood out, even without overheads lights to make them shine.
“What’s the occasion?” Luke asked, smiling as he crossed the threshold.
“Celebrating,” Reid softly replied, meeting Luke halfway through the room. It didn’t take much to fall into his husband, and the retired doctor found himself sighing into a kiss. Very few were ever lucky enough to love someone so long and so well.
“Yeah?” Luke asked, bemused and more than a little dazzled.
Another kiss later, Reid laid his hand on his husband’s shoulder, ran his hand through gray locks of hair, and whispered, “Fifty years ago today, you called my office for the first time.” He waited a heartbeat before adding, “Best day of my life.”
Most would be surprised at how deep Reid’s romantic streak ran. But not Luke. He just swayed with the love of his life in his arms and sniffled in happiness.
While his great-grandfather snoozed, Kyle studied the words on the page, and snuck glances at Reid.
Even asleep, he looked restless. But he looked something else, too. For the first time, Kyle thought the old man looked old. His skin had begun to turn translucent, and over these last few months, his steel core had subtly softened. Reid had become frail.
Reaching out, the teenager laid his hand over Reid’s and smiled.
There weren’t any comments in the margins of this short story. It didn’t need any, because it was theirs.