Last Night On Earth || Part Four
Title: Last Night On Earth || Part Four
Author: dolce_amore93
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: This is the last chapter of the Three Flights Up saga, which centers around Reid's death. Goodbyes are involved. :'(
Summary: Reid and Luke spend a little more time on Earth together before Reid needs to leave for good.
Author's Notes: I've never experienced writing something that was this gratifying but HARD to write. This hurt. Thank you guys so much for being so supportive of this little series. I'm sad to be finished with it, but there's so much more fanfiction to come. HAPPY fanfiction. :D Comments = love.
Previous chapters, Three Flights Up, Waiting Game, Losing My Religion, and Last Night On Earth Parts 1-3 are all tagged in the side bar.
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Luke and Reid climbed out of bed, dressing on opposite sides of the bed. Luke blushed and gestured down at the mattress. “You didn’t say anything about it. It was… good, right?” he asked embarrassedly.
Reid smirked. “I thought it was obvious enough to not need mentioning. It was fantastic,” he said genuinely. He searched Luke’s eyes for a moment, and experienced the kind of self-consciousness that only Luke made him feel. “For you?”
Luke grinned. “Amazing.”
Once they were dressed, Luke tenderly took Reid’s hand and led him downstairs.
“Are we heading over to the farm to hang the ornament?” Reid asked. He was kind of hoping for a chance to get another one of Emma’s cookies.
Luke shook his head.
“No. Dad decided to put it up here this year. Emma and Aunt Meg aren’t at the farm. Most of the Snyders live here apart from Jack and his kids, so it seemed appropriate,” Luke explained.
“Ironic that the Snyder Farm doesn’t have many Snyders,” Reid laughed.
“I know,” Luke said. “I’m not much a fan of irony these days.” He could help but smile at what the sentence automatically made him think of. So if I were to tell you that I’m a Pisces, yet ironically allergic to fish, you and I would’ve bonded? Luke squeezed Reid’s hand and smiled warmly. “Ready?” he asked. Reid nodded, the ornament dangling from his finger.
The pair stood in front of the tree so tall it hit the ceiling of the Walsh-Snyder home, their shoulders rubbing against one another.
“Where should I stick it?” Reid asked, observing the already full tree.
“Next to that one,” Luke said instantly, pointing to glitter-decorated paper Christmas tree ornament.
Reid slid the loop around the branch and stood back, observing it with pride. “Looks good,” he said. “Why there?”
Luke smiled. “I want yours there so that you’re next to mine. I made the tree one,” he said.
Reid stepped in and observed the hand-made ornament. “Not the best artist, eh?” Reid asked, looking back at Luke with that wickedly beautiful smile that he had missed so much.
Luke chuckled. “I made it in kindergarten, meanie,” he laughed, shaking his head.
“Oh. That explains it,” Reid replied, still smiling. The two stood together, looking at the tree.
“I ordered it for you online back in August.” Luke said, pointing to Reid’s ornament. “I didn’t see any reason why we wouldn’t be together for Christmas,” he murmured.
Reid stepped in toward Luke, wanting nothing more than to take on all the pain that Luke showed in his eyes. Reid could handle it. Luke could, too, but he didn’t deserve it.
“There’s so much we never got to do together,” Luke said, looking up into Reid’s now very close blue eyes. “The simple things, you know? We never went swimming in the pond. We never spent a holiday together. We never went on just a normal dinner-and-movie date. It isn’t even like it was our last summer together. It was our only summer together, Reid. It isn’t fair,” Luke said, his voice quivering.
Reid sighed. He had waited so long to touch Luke. To look at Luke the way he wanted to. To talk to Luke - to really talk to him. He finally had him, for a little while. And then… this happened.
He knew that life wasn’t fair, and had never taken mortality lightly. He lost his parents at a young age. He lost patients during his career. He saw what death did to people - people like him, when his parents died. People like the loved ones of his lost patients. People like Luke. Life wasn’t fair, and neither was death. It was a fact that didn’t make them having such little time together any easier.
“I know it isn’t fair,” Reid replied gently. “It sucks,” he said bluntly. He rubbed his hand up and down Luke’s side, trying to be of some comfort. “There are a lot of things we did do together, though,” he offered. He wasn’t used to be the optimistic one in their relationship, but he didn’t mind giving it a go. Luke had been rubbing off on him, apparently.
“Like what?” Luke asked.
Reid shrugged. “I don’t know about you, but I was never stuck in an elevator with anyone else before,” he said. He laughed. “I never wanted to strangle someone in an elevator before either, by the way,” he said with a wink, thinking back to bratty, bouncing Mr. Snyder. Luke blushed.
“Sorry about that,” Luke said, giving way to a small smirk.
“Yeah, sure you are,” Reid teased. “This may come as a shock, but I never went mechanical bull riding with anyone else before, either.”
Luke giggled. “That was fun,” he said.
Reid hesitated before continuing to speak. “I never let myself get close to anyone before you. I never wanted to before you,” he said, his eyes wide and vulnerable. “I know we didn’t do a lot of ‘things’ together, but we did a lot. We happened. After all that occurred in the time since I came to Oakdale, we happened. And in order to get to that point, we did a lot.”
Luke somehow smiled and frowned at the same time. “A lot of good being with me did you,” he said sadly.
“Hey,” Reid said, shaking his head. “I wouldn’t change anything that happened between us. I wouldn’t do anything differently. I don’t do regrets.”
“It was worth the road blocks? It was worth dealing with my indecisiveness?”
“If you made things easy, you wouldn’t be you,” Reid replied with a laugh. His expression grew serious as he looked in Luke’s chocolate eyes. “It was worth it.”
“I’m glad in spite of me being me that you feel that way, because I feel the same,” Luke said warmly.
Reid looked out the window and every muscle tensed when he saw the sun beginning to creep through the trees. Luke observed his expression and shook his head.
“No,” Luke whispered. “No, no, no.”
Reid opened his mouth to speak, but was stopped by the lump that he felt in his throat.
Luke began shaking his head, tears starting to spurt out of his eyes. “No, you can’t leave. Not yet!”
Reid squinted his eyes shut, trying not to cry. He had to be strong for Luke. He just had to. “Luke,” he said calmly, “Shh, it’s alright.”
“No it’s not!” Luke cried. “We have so much left to talk about!”
“I know,” Reid said quietly.
“You don’t have to go. We’re not meant to be apart. We can figure something out. We can find a way to keep you here, we can…”
“We can’t stop it. I have to go soon, Luke,” Reid said. He would fight tooth and nail to stay with Luke if he knew it would work, but he knew better by now. Dying was, if nothing else, humbling as hell. He couldn’t lead Luke on to think otherwise.
Luke heard a degree of fallibility in Reid’s voice that upon meeting him he would’ve never expected to hear. He never wanted to, either. For the first time in a long time, a tear rolled down Reid’s cheek.
“No! How am I supposed to be okay here without you?” Luke asked desperately.
“You’re tough,” Reid said, his voice crackly and chest heavy. “You’re a lot tougher than you give yourself credit for.”
“I wasn’t that tough before you, though,” Luke said.
“Yes you were,” Reid said. “I wouldn’t have come to Oakdale in the first place if it weren’t for you being tough. And stubborn. Annoying. Caring. Passionate…” his voice trailed off. “I need you to keep being all those things. Can you do that for me?”
Luke nodded. “I’ll try.” He paused. “Will you be okay? Won’t you be lonely?” It was so typical Luke to worry most about the other person.
Reid nodded. “I miss you, but I’ll be okay if you’re okay. I swear. It’s pretty nice up there. Lots of good food,” he said, remembering that Brad had mentioned that Luke couldn’t be happy without him trying to be happy, too.
They pushed their foreheads together, breathing each other in for the last time. The energy between their bodies mutually told how badly they wanted to stay that way forever, exactly as they were.
Reid kissed Luke, letting his lips linger as he sucked on his bottom lip and his hands cup his cheeks. Luke kissed him back, pressing his lips against every inch of Reid’s, similarly allowing his hands to reach around to the back of Reid’s neck. “I love you,” Reid said. It didn’t matter what physically happened - Reid’s heart never belonged to anyone more than it belonged to Luke. And Luke knew it.
“I love you too, I love you too,” Luke said, nodding frantically. Reid looked in his eyes and couldn’t help but feel okay. It was absurd that anyone could love a person as difficult as he as much as Luke did, but he’d take it.
“I’m going to be watching over you, so you take care of yourself, you hear me?” Reid warned lovingly.
“I will.”
They grew quiet for a moment, their foreheads never quite separating. “Will I ever see you again?” Luke asked.
Reid bit his lip, feeling more tears creeping up on him. “After you’ve lived a really, really amazing, long life, yes.”
Luke nodded. “Okay,” he said, feeling assured by Reid’s words and touch. “Okay.” He saw the look on Reid’s face and knew he was fading away. “I’ll see you around, Dr. Oliver,” he said through tears. He smiled, not wanting Reid’s last look at him to be a sad one. He’d be okay because it was what made Reid happy.
“Yes you will, Mr. Snyder.”
They had to be apart for a while, but they'd make it back to one another, one day. They were Reid and Luke. They were too them to let anything stand in their way.
Author: dolce_amore93
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: This is the last chapter of the Three Flights Up saga, which centers around Reid's death. Goodbyes are involved. :'(
Summary: Reid and Luke spend a little more time on Earth together before Reid needs to leave for good.
Author's Notes: I've never experienced writing something that was this gratifying but HARD to write. This hurt. Thank you guys so much for being so supportive of this little series. I'm sad to be finished with it, but there's so much more fanfiction to come. HAPPY fanfiction. :D Comments = love.
Previous chapters, Three Flights Up, Waiting Game, Losing My Religion, and Last Night On Earth Parts 1-3 are all tagged in the side bar.
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Luke and Reid climbed out of bed, dressing on opposite sides of the bed. Luke blushed and gestured down at the mattress. “You didn’t say anything about it. It was… good, right?” he asked embarrassedly.
Reid smirked. “I thought it was obvious enough to not need mentioning. It was fantastic,” he said genuinely. He searched Luke’s eyes for a moment, and experienced the kind of self-consciousness that only Luke made him feel. “For you?”
Luke grinned. “Amazing.”
Once they were dressed, Luke tenderly took Reid’s hand and led him downstairs.
“Are we heading over to the farm to hang the ornament?” Reid asked. He was kind of hoping for a chance to get another one of Emma’s cookies.
Luke shook his head.
“No. Dad decided to put it up here this year. Emma and Aunt Meg aren’t at the farm. Most of the Snyders live here apart from Jack and his kids, so it seemed appropriate,” Luke explained.
“Ironic that the Snyder Farm doesn’t have many Snyders,” Reid laughed.
“I know,” Luke said. “I’m not much a fan of irony these days.” He could help but smile at what the sentence automatically made him think of. So if I were to tell you that I’m a Pisces, yet ironically allergic to fish, you and I would’ve bonded? Luke squeezed Reid’s hand and smiled warmly. “Ready?” he asked. Reid nodded, the ornament dangling from his finger.
The pair stood in front of the tree so tall it hit the ceiling of the Walsh-Snyder home, their shoulders rubbing against one another.
“Where should I stick it?” Reid asked, observing the already full tree.
“Next to that one,” Luke said instantly, pointing to glitter-decorated paper Christmas tree ornament.
Reid slid the loop around the branch and stood back, observing it with pride. “Looks good,” he said. “Why there?”
Luke smiled. “I want yours there so that you’re next to mine. I made the tree one,” he said.
Reid stepped in and observed the hand-made ornament. “Not the best artist, eh?” Reid asked, looking back at Luke with that wickedly beautiful smile that he had missed so much.
Luke chuckled. “I made it in kindergarten, meanie,” he laughed, shaking his head.
“Oh. That explains it,” Reid replied, still smiling. The two stood together, looking at the tree.
“I ordered it for you online back in August.” Luke said, pointing to Reid’s ornament. “I didn’t see any reason why we wouldn’t be together for Christmas,” he murmured.
Reid stepped in toward Luke, wanting nothing more than to take on all the pain that Luke showed in his eyes. Reid could handle it. Luke could, too, but he didn’t deserve it.
“There’s so much we never got to do together,” Luke said, looking up into Reid’s now very close blue eyes. “The simple things, you know? We never went swimming in the pond. We never spent a holiday together. We never went on just a normal dinner-and-movie date. It isn’t even like it was our last summer together. It was our only summer together, Reid. It isn’t fair,” Luke said, his voice quivering.
Reid sighed. He had waited so long to touch Luke. To look at Luke the way he wanted to. To talk to Luke - to really talk to him. He finally had him, for a little while. And then… this happened.
He knew that life wasn’t fair, and had never taken mortality lightly. He lost his parents at a young age. He lost patients during his career. He saw what death did to people - people like him, when his parents died. People like the loved ones of his lost patients. People like Luke. Life wasn’t fair, and neither was death. It was a fact that didn’t make them having such little time together any easier.
“I know it isn’t fair,” Reid replied gently. “It sucks,” he said bluntly. He rubbed his hand up and down Luke’s side, trying to be of some comfort. “There are a lot of things we did do together, though,” he offered. He wasn’t used to be the optimistic one in their relationship, but he didn’t mind giving it a go. Luke had been rubbing off on him, apparently.
“Like what?” Luke asked.
Reid shrugged. “I don’t know about you, but I was never stuck in an elevator with anyone else before,” he said. He laughed. “I never wanted to strangle someone in an elevator before either, by the way,” he said with a wink, thinking back to bratty, bouncing Mr. Snyder. Luke blushed.
“Sorry about that,” Luke said, giving way to a small smirk.
“Yeah, sure you are,” Reid teased. “This may come as a shock, but I never went mechanical bull riding with anyone else before, either.”
Luke giggled. “That was fun,” he said.
Reid hesitated before continuing to speak. “I never let myself get close to anyone before you. I never wanted to before you,” he said, his eyes wide and vulnerable. “I know we didn’t do a lot of ‘things’ together, but we did a lot. We happened. After all that occurred in the time since I came to Oakdale, we happened. And in order to get to that point, we did a lot.”
Luke somehow smiled and frowned at the same time. “A lot of good being with me did you,” he said sadly.
“Hey,” Reid said, shaking his head. “I wouldn’t change anything that happened between us. I wouldn’t do anything differently. I don’t do regrets.”
“It was worth the road blocks? It was worth dealing with my indecisiveness?”
“If you made things easy, you wouldn’t be you,” Reid replied with a laugh. His expression grew serious as he looked in Luke’s chocolate eyes. “It was worth it.”
“I’m glad in spite of me being me that you feel that way, because I feel the same,” Luke said warmly.
Reid looked out the window and every muscle tensed when he saw the sun beginning to creep through the trees. Luke observed his expression and shook his head.
“No,” Luke whispered. “No, no, no.”
Reid opened his mouth to speak, but was stopped by the lump that he felt in his throat.
Luke began shaking his head, tears starting to spurt out of his eyes. “No, you can’t leave. Not yet!”
Reid squinted his eyes shut, trying not to cry. He had to be strong for Luke. He just had to. “Luke,” he said calmly, “Shh, it’s alright.”
“No it’s not!” Luke cried. “We have so much left to talk about!”
“I know,” Reid said quietly.
“You don’t have to go. We’re not meant to be apart. We can figure something out. We can find a way to keep you here, we can…”
“We can’t stop it. I have to go soon, Luke,” Reid said. He would fight tooth and nail to stay with Luke if he knew it would work, but he knew better by now. Dying was, if nothing else, humbling as hell. He couldn’t lead Luke on to think otherwise.
Luke heard a degree of fallibility in Reid’s voice that upon meeting him he would’ve never expected to hear. He never wanted to, either. For the first time in a long time, a tear rolled down Reid’s cheek.
“No! How am I supposed to be okay here without you?” Luke asked desperately.
“You’re tough,” Reid said, his voice crackly and chest heavy. “You’re a lot tougher than you give yourself credit for.”
“I wasn’t that tough before you, though,” Luke said.
“Yes you were,” Reid said. “I wouldn’t have come to Oakdale in the first place if it weren’t for you being tough. And stubborn. Annoying. Caring. Passionate…” his voice trailed off. “I need you to keep being all those things. Can you do that for me?”
Luke nodded. “I’ll try.” He paused. “Will you be okay? Won’t you be lonely?” It was so typical Luke to worry most about the other person.
Reid nodded. “I miss you, but I’ll be okay if you’re okay. I swear. It’s pretty nice up there. Lots of good food,” he said, remembering that Brad had mentioned that Luke couldn’t be happy without him trying to be happy, too.
They pushed their foreheads together, breathing each other in for the last time. The energy between their bodies mutually told how badly they wanted to stay that way forever, exactly as they were.
Reid kissed Luke, letting his lips linger as he sucked on his bottom lip and his hands cup his cheeks. Luke kissed him back, pressing his lips against every inch of Reid’s, similarly allowing his hands to reach around to the back of Reid’s neck. “I love you,” Reid said. It didn’t matter what physically happened - Reid’s heart never belonged to anyone more than it belonged to Luke. And Luke knew it.
“I love you too, I love you too,” Luke said, nodding frantically. Reid looked in his eyes and couldn’t help but feel okay. It was absurd that anyone could love a person as difficult as he as much as Luke did, but he’d take it.
“I’m going to be watching over you, so you take care of yourself, you hear me?” Reid warned lovingly.
“I will.”
They grew quiet for a moment, their foreheads never quite separating. “Will I ever see you again?” Luke asked.
Reid bit his lip, feeling more tears creeping up on him. “After you’ve lived a really, really amazing, long life, yes.”
Luke nodded. “Okay,” he said, feeling assured by Reid’s words and touch. “Okay.” He saw the look on Reid’s face and knew he was fading away. “I’ll see you around, Dr. Oliver,” he said through tears. He smiled, not wanting Reid’s last look at him to be a sad one. He’d be okay because it was what made Reid happy.
“Yes you will, Mr. Snyder.”
They had to be apart for a while, but they'd make it back to one another, one day. They were Reid and Luke. They were too them to let anything stand in their way.