A Family For Christmas part 2
A Family For Christmas
Part two
Reid opened the door to his apartment and stepped back to let Alex in.
The boy hadn't stopped talking since he picked him up from school. He was surprised to see a stranger standing next to his uncle and was a little shy, but as soon as Luke crouched down and introduced himself, smiling that smile of his, Alex felt at ease immediately and he started to interrogate Luke, asking him all kinds of questions.
That is how Reid learned that Luke lived in Dallas for almost a year now, that he moved here shortly after last New Year’s from a small town called Oakdale and that he had a big family, including a brother who was about the same age as Alex. What Luke didn’t tell, and what Reid was dying to find out, was the reason why he had left Oakdale and his family behind to come to Dallas all on his own.
Luke had subsequently invited them both for a drink (coffee for Reid and Luke and hot chocolate for Alex) so they could all get to know each other a little more. Reid was almost afraid to admit it, but it had been fun. It turned out Luke could make up stories about anything Alex asked him to. Reid had listened to Luke telling a story about some stranger who just walked by. Alex hung on Luke’s lips, completely enthralled. Reid didn’t mind looking at Luke’s mouth either, but for totally different reasons. Luke had full, almost red lips and every now and then he licked them, unintentionally giving Reid inappropriate thoughts.
Reid scolded himself. He’s the babysitter, Oliver. Snap out of it! He laughed at himself; the dad lusting after the babysitter, sounded like a really bad porno.
Now back in his living room, he could hear Alex rattle on about Luke from his room. He sighed. He could only hope Alex was just as enthusiastic to others about him.
Reid knew he wasn’t the typical father type, he was usually called distant and cold, but he did enjoy spending time with his nephew. Besides, he was the only living family member Reid had and he wanted to give Alex a home. Not just a house to live in and food to eat, but a real home. Problem was, he had no idea how to do it.
His phone pinged, signalling an incoming message. Luke.
< Is it ok if I come over Saturday so if you get paged, you won’t have to wait for me?>
Well, Reid thought immediately conceding, he did have point there. If he had to call Luke to come over after he got a page, he might not be able to get to the hospital on time. He didn’t let his mind wander to the fact that he was already looking forward to seeing Luke again, spending time with him and getting to know him better. There was something about Luke that made Reid feel good, made him comfortable. He only just met him, but he couldn’t stop thinking about those warm brown eyes and that infectious smile.
He never longed for a domestic life, for a partner to share everything with, for children of his own. But since he had Alex in his life, he felt oddly alone. There was an extra someone in his life, but at the same time it made him miss something or someone else-someone who belonged to him, in his life and in his bed. He missed the physical contact with another man. He couldn’t bring someone home with him with Alex in the house. It just didn’t feel right, but he definitely missed having sex. Maybe that was why he reacted so strongly to Luke. Because Luke was hot, he had a great body, slim hips and broad shoulders without being overly muscular. Reid had noticed he had big hands, almost workman-like. He liked that in a man.
Now Luke may have dodged the question if he had a boyfriend, but there was nothing wrong with Reid’s gaydar. He definitely noticed Luke glancing at him a couple of times during their coffee ‘date’ and the way Luke stood almost too close to him when saying goodbye, touching his arm. Yeah, there was definitely something there.
Reid texted back:
The reply came quickly.
Hmm, it seemed Luke was a morning person. As much as Reid was used to waking up at all hours of the day to rush to the hospital, mornings definitely weren’t his favourite time of day. But Luke probably stood up at the crack of dawn to birds chirping and little forest animals prancing around in his bedroom, brightening up the day with just his smile. When Reid had his day off, he wanted to lie around and relax when he woke up. Usually Alex would snuggle up to him in his bed and watch cartoons, while Reid scanned the newsletters on his I pad.
< Too early. 10.30>
It took a few minutes, as if Luke wasn’t sure what to answer, but when the text came in, it was very simple.
.
*
The rest of the week went by smoothly. Reid felt himself looking forward to Saturday more and more, as was Alex. On Friday he’d already carefully laid out all the games he wanted to play with Luke and Reid didn’t have the heart to tell him that he wasn’t sure Luke would have time to play all these games with him or if he even wanted to. It had been a long time since Alex was this excited about something and it made Reid feel happy to see him like that but also a little guilty. It was such a simple thing he was excited about and Reid obviously hadn’t been able to give it to him. He tried, he really did, but if he was honest, he had no clue on how to raise a little boy. And the fact that he had to do it on his own wasn’t helping.
But now, maybe he had Luke. Luke could come over and spend time with Alex, and knew how to deal with little boys. It didn’t matter really that he was paying Luke for his time and attention. As long as Alex was getting what he needed, that what was most important. That Reid found Luke ridiculously attractive, well, that was just a bonus. Although it also complicated things, because he couldn’t just have a fling with Luke. What if things got awkward after a night of hot sex?-that would affect Alex as well. For now Reid would settle for having Luke as Alex’ babysitter and nothing more.
*
As Saturday morning rolled around, Reid found he could have easily met Luke at nine o’clock, because Alex was up at the crack of dawn, jumping around like a little ball of energy.
When the clock finally hit 10.30, the doorbell rang. Alex ran towards the door, shouting, "I'll get it!" and swung open the door. There stood Luke, smiling.
Suddenly shy, Alex just looked at Luke without saying a word. So Luke squatted down, sat on his hunches so he was at Alex' eye level.
"Hey Alex." He said.
Alex ducked his head and shuffled his feet.
"Hi." He said softly.
Watching his nephew from the living room, Reid recognised his insecurity. He had been the same way when he was younger, so he walked up to him and put his hand on the boy's shoulder.
"Hi Luke." He said with a smile. "Good to see you again." And then to Alex, "Shall we ask Luke to come in?"
Alex nodded yes frantically, but said nothing. Reid laughed and stepped back to make room for Luke. "Come in." He gestured with his hand. Luke quickly glanced at Reid, said "thanks," and stepped into the living room. He found the room practical with some homey touches, but obviously not designed for someone who had a child. He noticed that Reid had tried to make the room more child-friendly but it still had 'bachelor pad' written all over it.
"Can I get you anything? Coffee, tea, or something else?" Reid asked, while walking towards the kitchen.
"Coffee is fine." Luke answered. With Reid disappearing, he found himself alone in the room with Alex, who was still just looking at him with a barely-there smile. Luke smiled back, wanting the child to feel comfortable in his own home. Alex surprised him by tugging on his arm and pulling him towards the dining room table.
"Do you want to play a game?" Alex asked. "I've put all my favourite games here, so if you want, you can choose one." His eyes nervously darted around, not quite reaching Luke's. Luke's eyes scanned the games that lay on the table, immediately registering that none of these games were typical children's games. They were mostly strategy games and they were all for only two players. It broke Luke’s heart a little to see this little piece of evidence that there weren’t many people in the lives of this little boy and his uncle. That it was basically just the two of them and even though it was obvious they were very fond of each other, he wished there were more people in their lives who could bring them a little warmth and happiness.
He saw Alex looking at him with uncertain, but hopeful eyes and he smiled at him.
“Sure, I’d love to play a game with you. But let me talk to your uncle first for a bit, okay?” He answered. “Why don’t you go and set up the chess board and we’ll play a few games in a short while.
Alex jumped up and a big smile transformed his serious face. “That’s my favourite too! And Uncle Reid’s too and he’s really really good. I’m trying to beat him, but I haven’t yet.”
So Uncle Reid doesn’t let his nephew win. He has to work for it. Luke thought. Interesting.
When Reid came back to the living room with two cups of coffee and lemonade for Alex, he found Alex and Luke on opposite sides of the chess board, discussing the game.
“Ah, I see you tricked Luke into playing with you already.” He smiled, ruffling Alex unruly curls.
“No, he wants to talk to you first.” Alex sulked.
Reid looked at Luke appreciatively. “Smart thinking. Once he get’s you going, he doesn’t want to stop.”
As Alex set up the board and played against himself for a while, Reid and Luke talked. They found out a little more about the other person and Reid informed him of what he needed from Luke, with regard to Alex. It turned out Luke was available on weekends, which was just the time that Reid would need him to come and watch Alex the most.
“I usually have the weekends off, but you never know when a trauma comes in and I get paged. Up until now I have been able to transfer surgeries to other surgeons, but I can’t do that forever. And it wouldn’t be fair to my colleagues. And since I am the head of neurology, there are cases that only I can and should handle. Patients need the best care they can get and I want to give it to them.” Reid told Luke. “But I want to be here for Alex too. He needs me too; he doesn’t have anyone else but me. And that’s sad enough as it is.” Reid said, while glancing at Alex.
Luke felt the need to reassure Reid and almost moved his hand to take Reid’s.
“It seems to me you are doing a great job with him. It’s logical that he has a lot of grief and sadness in him, but you are giving him a stable, warm home and you love him, right?”
“Yeah, I do.” Reid admitted, now looking at his hands, clasping the coffee mug. “It’s just that, as you said, he had a lot of grief and I don’t know how I can help him with that.”
“It’s difficult to get thrown into the role of a father like you have, to suddenly have to take care of a young child. Especially when he’s not your own and you haven’t seen him grow into the boy that he is today. You don’t know how he reacts to thing, what he likes and dislikes. These are all things you have to learn about each other. And on top of that, there’s the trauma that you both have to deal with. He isn’t the only one who has lost loved ones; you lost your brother and sister-in-law. That has to be hard for you too.” Luke didn’t know if he overstepped by addressing Reid’s grief as well as little Alex’s. Reid didn’t seem like the type of person to pour his heart out very easily. It turned out, Luke was right about that.
Reid leaned back in his chair and his face was devoid of any emotion. “Well, you’re here to take care of Alex. I can take care of myself. So there’s no need for you to psycho-analyse me.”
Luke let his hands fall on his lap and he felt like he’d been slapped in the face. They were starting to bond and now all of a sudden he felt like he was back on square one.
Reid watched as Luke’s face displayed what he was feeling. There was no need for him to lash out at Luke like that when all he was trying to do was help him. It was just some sort of instinct to keep everybody at arms’ length. He sighed and rubbed his face, feeling like he had to say something to explain, to make Luke understand where he was coming from. He was just about to open his mouth when his pager beeped. It startled both him and Luke as if they were rudely taken back to the real world and out of their own little world.
"And there we go." Reid muttered. "I'll call first to see if I have to go in."
He walked away from the table, telephone already pressed to his ear. It didn't take long for him to return. He shook his head apologetically.
"I'm sorry. I have to go. There's been an accident with multiple casualties. Luke, you can stay right?"
Luke nodded. "Yes, I'm available all day, no problem."
"Okay, good. I have no idea how long I will be gone. When I know more, I'll text you, alright?" Reid said while already putting on his jacket. Before he left, he walked towards Alex, cupped his cheek and kissed him on the forehead.
"I’m sorry, Alex. You be good and have fun with Luke. I'll see you later."
*
It was evening when Reid left the hospital, much later than he’d wanted. But he had to perform two emergency surgeries, neither was very difficult but they needed to be done immediately. The patients were now out of danger and Reid was finally able to go home to Alex and to Luke. When the thought of going home to a child and another man entered his mind, a feeling he didn’t quite recognise rose in his chest and settled there. It felt like longing, wanting which was odd, because Reid almost never wanted anything for himself, not for his personal life. He tried to swallow it away, but he couldn’t get rid of it.
This is ridiculous, he thought. You’re mooning over some babysitter, wanting to play house with him. But it wasn’t playing, was it? He did have something that resembled a family now, a sort-of-son that he was raising to the best of his abilities. But was it enough? He knew that Alex needed more in his life, more than his emotionally closed off uncle. That was the biggest reason he hired Luke. Luke could help both himself and Alex. Because Luke was open, friendly and good at talking. He proved that this morning when he was spot on with his analysis of Reid’s situation. Reid could be honest enough with himself now to admit that. He didn’t like it, because he didn’t want to seem weak to anyone. But Luke was right. It was hard, especially now with the holidays coming up. He had no idea how to celebrate Christmas properly or how to make it a celebration fit for a child.
He sighed to himself. Here he stood, outside his own house, musing about his hard life. Man up, Oliver, he mocked himself.
He slid the key in the door and let himself in the house. The sight that greeted him in the living room did nothing to ease the feeling that had come over him when he was standing outside. Right there on the couch was Luke, reading a book with Alex snuggled up to his chest and sound asleep. Luke had one arm wrapped around the boys back protectively, while the other held up a worn copy of The Hobbit.
Luke looked up at him, smiled but didn’t say anything, careful not to wake the sleeping Alex.
“Hi.” Reid whispered, almost tiptoeing towards the couch.
“Hi.” Luke whispered back. “He fell asleep about 10 minutes ago. He wanted to wait for you, but I think today wore him out.”
Reid’s chest felt warmer suddenly upon hearing that his nephew had wanted to stay awake and see him before he went to bed. He quickly hung his coat and reached out to carefully wrap Alex’s body in his arms.
“I’ll take him to his room. I’ll be right back.” He said softly.
He carried Alex to his room, carefully laid him down in his bed and pulled the blankets up over his body, tucking him in safely. He pressed a kiss to his forehead and mumbled, “I love you.”
When he got back to the living room, Luke was putting his book into his bag and it looked like he was about to leave.
Reid desperately wanted to hold on to the feeling of domesticity Luke brought into his house. He hurriedly asked, “Do you want some coffee or do you have to go?”
Luke stopped his movements, looked at Reid contemplatively for a moment and then said with a smile, “Sure, I’d like coffee.”
Reid clasped his hands, rubbed them together gleefully and exclaimed, “Good,” just a little too enthusiastically and loudly. He winced at himself inwardly and abruptly turned to make his way into the kitchen. He leaned his head onto the fridge for a moment and muttered to himself, “You’re pathetic. What are you, sixteen?”
When he returned to the living room with two steaming mugs of coffee, Luke was still sitting on the couch, this time he was checking something on his phone.
Reid placed the coffee mugs on the table and sat down next to Luke on the other side of the couch.
“Alex is a great kid.” Luke smiled. “We had a great time today.”
“What did you two do?” Reid asked curiously.
“Well, first we played chess, which he is really good at for a six year old boy. Then we had some lunch and after that we went outside to the park. You’re lucky you have a park just around the corner, it’s great. Alex couldn’t get enough of the playground, but after a while we both started to get really cold. So we went to the coffee place down the road for some hot cocoa.” Luke folded his hands around his coffee mug. “Then we came back, made dinner together and we played one more round of chess.”
Reid cocked his head. “He beat you, didn’t he?” He smirked.
Luke laughed. “Yeah, he did. He’s really smart, almost too smart for his age.”
Reid looked down at the coffee mug in his hands. “He’s a lot like me when I was that age. Sometimes it’s nice to be that smart and sometimes it’s … not.” He added with a shrug.
Luke looked at him inquisitively but decided not to push the matter. Instead he changed the subject.
“Listen, I don’t know when you’re on call again, but if it’s okay with you I’d like to stop by sometime next week just to spend time with Alex and get to know him.” And maybe you, Luke added in his mind.
Reid didn’t really have to think about Luke’s offer. “Alex would love that. He has school, obviously, but if you want you can join us for dinner, say Wednesday?” He offered.
Luke quickly checked his calendar on his phone and nodded. “Wednesday would be great,” he said enthusiastically.
“Okay then.” Reid said. “Wednesday it is.”
When Luke stood up and said he really needed to get going, Reid didn’t try to stop him this time. He would see him again on Wednesday.
Reid walked Luke to the door and opened it for him. Luke stepped out and turned around.
“I meant what I said earlier today. Alex is a great kid and you’re doing a great job with him. Just don’t forget about yourself.” And with one last quick smile, Luke was gone.
Reid closed the door behind him and leaned against it for a moment. Never before in his life had he felt so comfortable so quickly around another man. He was already falling head over heels for Luke and he barely even knew him.
Over the next two weeks Luke visited the Reid-Oliver household regularly. He spent a lot of time with Alex, sometimes Reid was there and sometimes he had to work.
Alex loved spending time with Luke and he started to really open up to him. Reid noticed the change in the little boy and he was thankful for it. Even though it hurt a little that he wasn’t the one that Alex confided in, he also noticed that Alex was more relaxed and opened up more to him too. He started to talk to Reid about his parents, asking questions about them and Reid was more than happy to give them to him. All in all, life seemed to get better and they both were able to deal better with their grief and the changes in their lives. And Reid knew he had Luke to thank for that.
*
Part three: http://fremi08.livejournal.com/11428.html