Fic: All That I Am (3/17)
Title: All That I Am (3/17)
Author: gradgirl (aka Ali)
Rating: PG-13 (what else?)
Characters/Pairings: Luke/Reid, Casey/Ali, Chris/Katie, appearances from Snyder clan and other OCs
Summary: Luke found almost everything with Reid. Is that enough?
Warnings: Sequel to Almost Everything, so you should read that one first.
Author’s Notes: Thank you taking the journey back into this universe with me. Also a huge thank you to reilaroo for your awesome beta work and slayerkitty for letting me give you presents. Constructive criticism and comments are appreciated. Thank you for reading. ~Ali
{ Chapter 1} { Chapter 2}
Chapter Three
Luke and Reid were holding hands as they made their way into the church. They weren’t exactly late, but Reid was supposed to be there early to go over the instructions with the pastor.
“It’s about time!” Chris called out. He, Katie, the pastor, and Alison Stewart-Hughes were standing at the front of the church. Alison had been chosen as Bobby’s Godmother. She and Casey had married two years ago and headed to Carbondale for Casey to go to law school. The couple had come to town for the Christening service.
“Why are you late?” Chris demanded, his harsh voice echoing around the church.
Reid opened his mouth to respond, but Luke quickly elbowed his husband in the chest. “If you want to have sex again, you will lie,” he whispered fiercely into Reid’s ear.
The older man turned to his husband. “But we’re in a church,” he noted. He tried to keep his face innocent, but Luke wasn’t going to be deterred.
Katie, remembering her conversation with Reid and Luke earlier, whispered to her husband, “You don’t want to know.”
Chris turned to Katie. He was about to protest, but she gave him a look, and he quickly closed his mouth. “Besides, you owe Reid,” she said. “He came over and checked on Bobby, and he calmed me down.”
Reid continued to stroll up the aisle with Luke by his side. The blonde saw Casey sitting in one of the pews. Luke pressed a quick kiss to his husband’s cheek before going to join his friend.
“Thank you,” Chris greeted Reid.
“For what?” the redhead questioned.
“Helping Katie and Bobby,” Chris allowed. He had agreed with Katie’s choice to make Reid a Godparent because he loved his wife, and he had a grudging respect for the other doctor. Not that Chris would admit it too freely, but it was a special day. So, he would make an exception.
“Don’t worry,” Reid assured Chris. “I’ll collect.”
“We’re ready!” Katie said overly bright.
Everyone jumped slightly and the pastor started to explain the service.
“Dude, you were totally having sex,” Casey snickered, his voice reverberating through the nearly empty church.
“Is that true?” Chris demanded, turning to look at Reid.
“Chris,” Katie whispered fiercely and grabbed his hand. She didn’t want to talk about their friends’ sex life, especially in a church, less than a half-hour before their son’s Christening.
Reid looked at the brunette for a moment. “Don’t ask questions you don’t want the answer to.”
“Unbelievable,” he muttered under his breath.
“Pastor Murphy,” Katie said. “I’m sorry for the delays, but I think we’re ready to hear the instructions.”
The pastor having already met Reid knew of his brusque nature. Talking to the redhead and Alison about the duties and responsibilities had been one of his more trying experiences. But he was a man of God and thought of it as a test. Feeling the tension between Chris and Reid, the pastor offered a silent prayer for peace.
*
“Casey,” Luke hissed. His face was inflamed. “K-Katie called and said Bobby had a fever. We had to rush over to their place early this morning. That’s all.”
“Maybe,” Casey allowed. “But Reid totally has that ‘I got shower sex’ look and your hair is still wet.”
Luke reached up and patted down the wet ends of his hair. “I’m not discussing my sex life with you, especially in a church,” Luke replied. He tried to look at his husband and pretend that he cared about the instructions.
“Hey, it’s not fair,” Casey noted. “Ali was freaking out this morning, and I offered to help get her mind off of things…” his voice trailed off and wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. “But she turned me down. Guess I’m just jealous.”
Luke turned surprised eyes on his friend. “You want to have sex with my husband?”
Casey had been looking over at the people standing at the alter. His eyes lingered on the redhead for a moment. “He’s hot,” Casey allowed.
Luke shook his head and smiled. “Stop checking out my husband.”
Casey slid over and wrapped his arm around Luke’s shoulders. “You know you’re the only guy I would go gay for.”
Luke chuckled again but abruptly stopped when he saw Reid look over at them. The redhead raised his eyebrows and Casey winked at Reid. Reid rolled his eyes and went back trying to listen to his instructions. He didn’t really get Luke’s friend, Casey, but he was a lot better to get along with than Noah ever was.
Casey let go of Luke and they went back to sitting in the pew, waiting for the service to begin. “You know I briefly considered you,” Luke finally said.
“For what?”
“When I needed to get married, I went to Reid and his response was…” The blonde’s voice trailed off as he could hear his husband’s bark of laughter when Luke told him he needed to get married. “Only the rich would think to get married. So who’s the poor soul? Who’s bank account are you planning to drain?”
“So you went to the abrasive doctor instead of me?” Casey asked. He wasn’t disappointed, although it was a time when he and Ali were apart and miserable. Pretending to be married to Luke might have been the distraction he needed instead of getting caught up in Vienna and the fake baby drama. “Why did you ask Reid instead?”
“Just remembering how uncomfortable you were with the Ameera situation,” Luke said quietly. After nearly five years, he could look back at that time, when his boyfriend had married a girl to keep her in the country, and it didn’t hurt. Everything that he had gone through with Noah, it had led him to Reid, and Luke couldn’t ever regret that.
“You say that,” Casey replied. “But I know you wouldn’t have asked me because Reid was your first choice.”
“You’re right. It wasn’t until after I asked him that I considered going to you.”
“And that’s when I realized,” Casey noted, “it was really over between you and Noah. Ali and I always believed that you guys would work it out, find your way back together. But then you went and married Reid Oliver, and we knew that was it. You and Noah weren’t ever going to get back together.”
Luke was surprised. Not only did he and Casey generally not talk about this sort of thing, but the insights that Casey had had into Luke’s relationship with Noah were dead on. “You know, it would have helped if you’d said something to me. It took Reid and I months to figure it out.”
“You wouldn’t have listened to me, anyway,” Casey said. “But the Ameera situation was really difficult on you and Noah, and it took a while for you guys to get back from that. You wouldn’t have married Reid if you honestly thought there was a chance for you and Noah. You wouldn’t have done that to him.”
“You’re right,” Luke admitted. “Reid and I would have these moments when I thought…” He sighed and his gaze landed on Reid’s back. “But he wanted me to wait until I could tell him that I was finally ready. And we’ve been making up for the lost time ever since.”
Reid looked over at his husband again and smiled. Luke felt himself smiling in return. “I love you,” he whispered. Reid rolled his eyes but his smile deepened.
“Stop making eyes at your husband. It’s kind of disgusting,” Casey told his friend.
Luke finally pulled his gaze away from Reid. “So how are you and Ali doing?”
This time, Casey smiled and had that look he found annoying between Reid and Luke. “We’re good,” Casey finally replied. “I’ve got one more year of law school in Carbondale. We miss Oakdale, but we’re not sure if we want to come back when I get done.”
“Why not? I know how much your families miss you. I miss you guys. Reid…” Luke’s voice trailed off. “Well, he’s admitted that he finds you tolerable.”
“High praise,” Casey said dryly.
“Exactly! I can count on one hand the amount of people Reid finds tolerable.”
Casey chuckled softly. “It’s just Ali and I…we want to make it on our own, you know? We don’t want to face any extra pressure or expectations because of who our families are.”
“Pressure?” Luke checked. “I didn’t realize Ali felt that way being a nurse at Memorial.”
“Well, actually, Ali is considering going to medical school to become a doctor.”
“That’s fantastic, Case.”
“Yeah.” He sighed. “She’s been really supportive, helping me focus on law school, and we wanted to wait until I was done. Now, the end is in sight, and she’s starting to work on her applications.”
Before Casey could say any more, Bob and Kim came into the church with Jacob. More of the Hughes family and friends found seats after greeting Chris and Katie.
*
The ceremony went off without a hitch. Bobby managed to stay quiet throughout the service. Jacob even behaved, but that might have had something to do with the new toy his Uncle Luke brought him.
Jacob had been sitting off to the side, munching on cookies and apple juice. After the instruction, Reid wandered over to the little boy. Jacob took one look at his Uncle Reid and immediately handed him a cookie. The redhead smiled, grateful that he had trained the boy well.
“How you doing, kid?” Reid asked.
Jacob shrugged. “Bored.”
“Me too,” the redhead admitted, but when he looked up and saw his husband heading their way, he realized things were starting to look up.
“Hey Jacob.” Luke walked up to the little boy and his husband. He offered a gentle smile for both of them.
“Hi Uncle Luke,” the little boy responded and continued to munch on his cookies. He subtly handed another cookie to Reid.
The blonde shook his head and smiled despite himself. “So, your mom said that we have to pay all of this attention to Bobby today.”
“Yeah,” Jacob muttered. He loved his brother, but ever since mommy said she and daddy were going to bring him a new brother or sister, so many people focused on mommy and the new baby-well except Uncle Reid, he still paid attention to Jacob. As long as Jacob shared his food, Uncle Reid was fine. Uncle Luke didn’t let Jacob get away with much. But he was nice and made Uncle Reid happy, so that was cool.
“Well, I thought maybe you’d like this,” Luke said as he pulled a wrapped box from behind his back. He had left it in the car by accident and went to get it as soon as he had a chance. He wasn’t surprised to see Reid with Jacob. Reid would talk a good game, but Luke knew the little boy was one of Reid’s friends, and neither one of them cared.
Jacob’s eyes widened, and he immediately dropped the juice box and cookie. Reid reached for both, hoping not to make a mess. The little boy immediately ripped off the paper and dug out his new toy. “Thank you, Uncle Luke!” he exclaimed and went to go show his mom and dad.
“You’re good, Mr. Oliver,” Reid commented.
“Well, he doesn’t love me as much as he loves his Uncle Reid. I got to bribe him somehow,” Luke replied and sat down next to his husband. The ceremony was going to start soon. Reid would have to leave, but the blonde wanted to spend a few moments alone.
Reid gently wrapped his arm around Luke’s shoulders. “Not everyone who knows you is going to love you.”
The blonde gently rested his head on Reid’s shoulder. “Worked on you didn’t it?”
*
Bob and Kim invited everyone over to their house for a reception after the Christening service.
Once they arrived, Reid immediately made a beeline for the food and Luke went to go say hello to Chris and Katie. Reid was eyeing the set-up, trying to find the best way to fill his plate without it spilling; he had his eating habits down to a science. He also needed to find a way to pick the food that would interact the best.
“Oh, Reid,” Casey greeted him. “Start with those pastry puff things,” Casey told the doctor.
One of the reasons Reid found the young Mr. Hughes so tolerable was his healthy interest in food. Whenever Casey and Alison came to town, Luke insisted on having them over for dinner. The first time, they had a barbecue with Casey leading the cooking, and Reid had immediately raised his esteem for the young man. Generally, Reid didn’t let anyone influence his food choices, but Casey hadn’t led him astray yet.
“Thanks, Casey,” Reid said. That was the extent to Reid’s level of small talk. He left that to Luke.
“Can I ask you a question?” Casey asked.
Picking up his plate, Reid looked at the blonde. “Do you mean besides the one you just asked?”
Casey chuckled. “Right.” He knew better than to beat around the bush. “Ali’s going to start applying to medical schools this fall.”
Reid continued to add food to his plate. He took one of the pastries that Casey had recommended and popped it into his mouth. “Good.”
Casey wasn’t sure if Reid was talking about the food or Alison’s plans. “What?”
The redhead looked at the younger man for a moment. “From what I remember of Nurse Stewart, she was good. Some nurses do really well in medical school. She’s got experience and knowledge, but it could be difficult for her to make the transition. Doctors don’t spend as much time with patients as the nurses do.”
“Okay,” he replied, taking in Reid’s response. “Could you talk to Ali? She’s nervous.”
“Well, she’s got to stop that,” the doctor noted. “Medical school is tough. If she doesn’t think she can cut it, then she needs to either get over it or not go. Her classmates, the professors, they’re not going to care about her feelings.”
Casey nodded his head. Sometimes the cut to the point nature that Reid exhibited could take some getting used to, but Casey appreciated it. “So will you talk to her?”
“Why me? Wasn’t she almost married to Chris?”
The blonde winced slightly. “Yeah, thanks for the reminder. As for why you… Well, it’s because you’re a world-class neurosurgeon. Ali should talk to the best, right?” he asked with a charming grin.
“Did Luke tell you how much flattery works on me?” Reid questioned suspiciously.
“Oh, believe me, Reid. Luke didn’t have to tell me that.”
The doctor ducked his head, hiding a grin. “So why does she want to go to medical school now?”
“Do you think it’s too late?”
“No.” Reid shook his head and longingly looked at the food. “Her experience and knowledge can help her. I want to know what else is going on in her life. My personal life never affected my schooling or professional life.”
“Did you have a personal life before you met Luke?” Casey asked, his face scrunched in confusion.
Reid refused to answer. “Are you still in law school?”
“Yeah. That’s why we’ve been waiting. I’ll be done this year and then it’s her turn.”
“Do you guys plan on having kids?”
Casey let out a nervous laugh. He and Ali had talked about it, but nothing was planned at this point. “Isn’t that a bit personal, Reid?”
“Didn’t Luke tell you?”
“What?”
“That filter that most people have, where they stop and think about what they’re going to say? I don’t have one. Medical school will be tough. You’re going to be starting your career. Kids take up a lot of your time and attention. I can’t believe this isn’t something you don’t know. And Casey, I don’t think either one of you will need the distraction right now.”
Casey took in everything Reid had to say, but he wasn’t going to make any decisions. Sometimes he wondered what it was that Luke saw in that guy, but he did appreciate the honesty. “Are you and Luke planning to have kids?”
“God, no,” the doctor responded instantly.
*
“Hi, Katie,” Luke greeted his friend and gave her a hug. She was holding Bobby and she looked so much happier than she had when he and Reid had left her home earlier.
“Hi, Luke. Thank you again, for this morning.” She smiled at the young man. She was so grateful for Reid’s friendship, and especially Luke’s. The blonde had caused some changes in her friend and Katie was happy for the both of them.
“It’s not a problem,” he assured her. “And I meant what I said, if you and Chris ever need a baby-sitter, just give us a call.”
Katie noticed that Luke had been looking at Bobby since he joined her. “Do you want to hold him?”
“Can I?” he asked eagerly. Ever since Chris and Katie announced they were having a baby, Luke had so many questions. He’d always enjoyed spending time with Jacob. Since Chris and Reid had been working long hours, the two spouses had found themselves spending time together and becoming closer friends.
“Of course.” She smiled indulgently and handed her son over to Luke.
Luke held Bobby and found himself staring at him. “You’re going to be a heartbreaker,” he noted.
Katie chuckled. “So how are things going with you?” She’d been caught up with the baby for a while, just starting to get back to work. She didn’t want to drag Reid and Luke over to her place whenever Chris wasn’t at home and she had a problem, but sometimes, like this morning, it couldn’t be stopped.
Luke continued to coo at the baby for a few moments. “You know, Reid and I are so fantastic, it can be scary. For him, it definitely is,” he observed.
“He still gets panic attacks?”
“Yeah. He had one this morning. The Foundation is going really well, and finally, finally it feels as if I know how to run a shipping company. And like Reid said, he’s got the neuro wing, and…” He smiled. “Our life is great.”
“But?” she asked. With spending so much time together, Katie found she could read Luke fairly well.
“Nothing.” He smiled shyly. “Everything with Noah was up and down and even with Reid and I… We used to talk about that moment, when the other shoe would drop and something would happen to us. He used to think I would leave him for Noah, and I used to think he would realize he could do so much better than me.”
She shook her head. “Luke, you bring out the best in Reid. And since he finally figured that out, I wouldn’t worry.”
“Yeah.”
“Have you guys talked about having kids yet?” she asked.
Luke talked about having a family, especially during Katie’s pregnancy. Sometimes their husbands would be stuck at the hospital, and the two friends would get together for dinner. Months ago, Luke had admitted that someday he hoped that he and Reid would have kids as well.
“No,” Luke admitted. “It’s odd because it’s the one thing we’ve never talked about. But, yeah, I want to have kids with Reid.”
===========================
Thank you for reading. Are you impressed or horrified that Reid trained Jacob to give him food? ~Ali
Onto Chapter Four...