Amore Tutto Vince (13/?)

[bkwermy323]

Title: Amore Tutto Vince
Author: Bkwermy323
Rating: PG-13
Author's Note: Enjoy!
Summary:Luke has cancer
Disclaimer: I own nothing


He had forgotten how to get home.  How could he have forgotten when he’d lived in Oakdale for his entire life? “Don’t panic, Luke,” he said to himself.  He pulled his car over to the side of the road and reached for his coat.  Then he began feeling around in his pockets.  Luke’s heart jumped in his throat when he realized he’d lost his phone and panic set in.  With shaking hands, he killed the ignition, grabbed his cane from the backseat and climbed out of his car.  Luckily, Luke had gotten himself lost in a residential neighborhood.

Rebecca Hardwell was unpacking a box in the kitchen when the doorbell rang.  She looked at the clock and sighed.  Mariah must have forgotten her key again.  “That girl is gonna give me gray hair,” she grumbled as she picked herself up off the floor and went to the door to let her daughter in.  But when she opened the door, Rebecca was surprised to find a young man at her door.  He was covered up despite it being 75 degrees out and leaned heavily on a cane.  Rebecca thought he couldn’t be older than 30, but wasn’t sure.  His skin was sallow to the point of being translucent and he had deep, purple bags under his eyes.  He also appeared to be a little unsteady on his feet and a look of pure panic shone in his eyes.  “May I help you?” she asked.

“I’m s-so sorry to b-bother you… My name is L-Luke Snyder and I… well… this is embarrassing… I’ve forgotten how to get home and seem to have left my phone at the hospital.  Otherwise, I would call someone myself.  Would you mind if I used your phone? I know you don’t know me, so I can make the call out here if that would make you more comfortable,” he said.

Rebecca’s heart clenched at his words and she gave him a comforting smile.  “Nonsense! Please come in!”

Luke’s face lit up with relief.  “Thank you so much!”

Rebecca led the young man to her living room and asked him to sit down.  “Please excuse the mess; my wife, daughter and I just moved in a couple days ago.”

“Oh! Well, welcome to Oakdale!” Luke said.  “You don’t meet a lot of lesbian and gay couples in Oakdale,” he added.

Rebecca frowned. Great. A homophobe.  “Is that a problem?” she asked, suddenly on high alert.

Noticing her alarm, Luke quickly shook his head.  “Oh dear! I’m sorry, you misunderstand me! I’m gay myself! I only meant it will be nice to have another gay couple in town! My husband is chief of staff at Memorial Hospital,” Luke said.

Rebecca’s face softened.  “Oh! I apologize; I didn’t realize…”

“No, I’m the one who should apologize.  I didn’t phrase that very well.  Please forgive me.”

“There’s nothing to forgive,” Rebecca replied warmly.  “Please wait here a moment while I find my phone.”

Luke thanked her and Rebecca went into the kitchen to retrieve her cell.  When she returned, she saw that Luke had removed his hat and was staring out the window.  Rebecca suppressed a gasp when she took in his bald head.  No wonder he looked so sick; he had cancer! She put on a smile and tried not to react as she walked over and handed the phone to Luke.  “Here you go, hon! Can I get you anything else? Water?”

“No, thank you! You’re already doing so much allowing a stranger into your home to use the phone,” Luke said.  He looked down at the phone and brought up the keypad.  However, when Luke went to type in Reid’s number, he realized that he didn’t know it.  Rebecca watched as his face changed from relief to renewed panic.  “I… I don’t remember my h-husband’s phone number,” he whispered.  Rebecca frowned at sat down beside him.

“Do you have any other family in the area?”

Luke nodded.  “Yes… but I’m afraid I don’t… I don’t know their number… I am so sorry for wasting your time.  Maybe… maybe if I just get back in my car, I’ll be able to find my way...” he began to say, when the front door opened.

“Mom? I’m home!” A young teenager entered the living room.  “Oh! Hello!”

“Luke, this is my daughter Mariah.  Mariah, this is Luke Snyder.  He got lost on the way home and just stopped in to use the phone,” Rebecca explained.

“Oh! Luke Snyder? Do you have a sister named Natalie?” Mariah asked.

“Uh, yeah! She’s my half-sister,” Luke replied.

“Cool! I met her at school!”

“Honey, you didn’t happen to exchange numbers with Luke’s sister, did you?”

“I did, actually! Why?”

“I’m afraid I can’t remember anybody’s number,” Luke chimed in.

“Oh! Well who does? I don’t even know my own number half the time,” Mariah said.  “I’ll call Natalie for you!”

“Thank you,” Luke said.  Mariah grabbed her phone from a side pocket in her back pack and scrolled through her contacts until she found Natalie’s number.

“Hello, Natalie? It’s Mariah! Listen, your brother Luke is here… yup! He got lost on his way home… uh huh… yeah… Okay! I’ll let him know… what? Yeah, I can text you the address… okay. Bye Natalie!” Mariah hung up and turned to smile at Luke.  “She said she’d call your husband and let him know where you are,” Mariah said.

“Thank you so much, Mariah.  And you too, Rebecca.”

“No problem! Well, I’m gonna go change and then I have to go to cheerleading practice.  It was nice meeting you, Luke!”

“Nice meeting you, too!”

20 minutes later, the doorbell rang and Rebecca opened the door to find a young girl who looked a lot like Luke.  “You must be Natalie!”

“Yup! Sorry it took me so long! I think my brother in law has a surgery scheduled today because he isn’t answering his phone and I can’t get a hold of my parents,” Natalie explained.

“Not a problem! Please, come in!”

“Thanks! You know, your house isn’t too far from mine! It’s actually pretty lucky that Luke ended up here! So I just walked on over,” Natalie said.

“I don’t know if your brother is in any shape to drive home,” Rebecca warned.

“No problem! I got my license last week, so I can take him home.  Where is he?”

“In the living room.  The poor thing fell asleep,” Rebecca said.

“I’m not surprised.  I think he had chemotherapy today and my mom says it’s a new regimen that’s pretty sucky,” Natalie replied.

“What kind of cancer, if I may ask?”

“AML.  Mariah told me you had a sister who died from cancer.  I’m sorry for your loss,” Natalie said.

“Thank you, honey.  She died a very long time ago, but I appreciate the sentiment.  I’ll show you where your brother is.”

Natalie followed Rebecca to the living room where they found Luke fast asleep on the couch.  Natalie felt a pang in her chest when she looked at her brother.  She hadn’t seen him since he’d gotten out of the hospital after his pneumonia and his appearance was shocking.  Swallowing, Natalie walked over and crouched down next to the couch.  “Luke?” she murmured, stroking his bald head.  Luke opened his eyes and looked at his sister groggily.

“Nat?” he whispered. Luke slowly sat up and took in his surroundings.  “Where am I?”

“Don’t you remember? You got lost on your way home and asked Mrs Hardwell if you could use her phone?”

“Oh… oh yeah…” Luke replied, still a little groggy.

How about I drive you home, kay?”

Luke nodded.  “Where’s Reid?”

“I couldn’t get ahold of him and mom and dad aren’t answering their phones,” Natalie explained. Luke nodded looked over at Rebecca, who was standing in the doorway, and smiled.

“Thank you so much for your generous hospitality,” Luke said.  He reached into his pocket and took out his wallet.  Then he removed a business card and placed it on the coffee table.  “If you ever need anything, please call.  I’d love to return the favor.”

“It wasn’t a problem!” Rebecca said. “It was very nice to meet you, Luke.”

“It was very nice to meet you too,” Luke replied.

Natalie grabbed Luke’s hat and placed it back on his head and helped him up from the couch.  She handed him his cane and supported his arm as they slowly began walking towards the door.  Luke thanked Rebecca once more and then brother and sister headed for Luke’s car.

When Natalie pulled into Luke’s driveway, she immediately put the car in park and killed the ignition.  “Okay, how about you get to bed and I’ll try calling mom and Reid again,” she suggested.  Luke gave her a slight nod of agreement.  Then they exited the car and made their way into the house.  Once inside, Natalie helped her brother take off his jacket and then Luke ambled off to bed.  Once he was gone, Natalie grabbed her phone and called her mother.

“Hey Natalie,” Lily answered.

“Mom, where have you been?” Natalie demanded.

“I was in a meeting, Natalie.  I told you I wouldn’t have my phone on.  And by the way, I don’t appreciate your tone, young lady.”

“I’m sorry, but it was an emergency.  Luke forgot how to get home.”

“What? Is he okay?!” Lily exclaimed in alarm.

“I think so… but he seems pretty shaken.  He was pretty quiet the entire car ride home…”

“Why didn’t he call anyone?”

“He forgot his phone at the hospital,” Natalie replied.

“And Reid?”

“I tried calling him, but he must be in surgery.”

“Wait, how did you know he got lost?” Lily asked.  Natalie quickly explained what happened and when she finished, Lily sighed in relief.

“Well thank God! Oh Natalie, I’m so proud of you for taking initiative when you couldn’t get ahold of anyone.”

“It was nothing.”

“No, it wasn’t nothing.  You are becoming such a mature, responsible young lady.  Let me just cancel my next meeting and I’ll be right over,” Lily said.

“You don’t need to do that, mom.  I know how important this meeting is.  I’ll just try Reid again and wait here until he gets home.  I can do some homework.”

“Oh sweetheart, I couldn’t ask you to do that…”

“It’s not a big deal, honest! Besides, like you said, I’m growing up to be a mature person.  I’ll be okay and I think Luke’s just gonna sleep,” Natalie said.

“Are you sure honey?”

“Positive.”

“Well okay… but text me as soon as you hear from Reid? And this weekend, I’m gonna take you out to buy that outfit you wanted,” Lily said.

Natalie giggled.  “Okay, mom!”

“I love you, baby.”

“I love you too.” Natalie hung up her phone and called Reid again.  There still was no answer, so she left a message and went to find Luke.  She found him curled up on his bed with a wool blanket pulled up to his neck.  “Luke?” she said tentatively. Luke turned to look at his sister and Natalie could see tears glistening in his eyes.

“Are you okay?” she asked.

Luke slowly sat up and wiped at his eyes.  Yeah… I’m - I’m okay,” he whispered, his voice trembling.  Natalie frowned and walked over to the bed.  She sat down and leaned over to kiss Luke on the cheek.

“You don’t seem okay,” she observed.

“I just… I feel horrible and… and embarrassed,” Luke admitted.

“Embarrassed? Why?”

“Because my kid sister had to pick up her irresponsible, idiot brother from a stranger’s home because he forgot where he lived.”

“Hey, I’m not a kid, I’m 16! Besides, you have always been there for me, Faith, and Ethan, especially with mom and dad’s drama...”

“I-I guess… Did you get ahold of mom or Reid?”

“Yeah.  Mom was in a meeting and had her phone off.  She was gonna cancel her next one and come over, but I know it was a really important meeting.  I told her we’d be okay,” she explained. “I called Reid too, but it went to voicemail.  I left a message, so hopefully he’ll get it soon.”

Luke sighed.  “He had surgery today.  That’s the whole reason why I drove myself to chemo.  He wanted to reschedule the surgery so he could take me, but I insisted I could handle it.  But look what happened!”

Natalie didn’t really know what to say to comfort her brother so she opted to lay down next to him and rest her head on his chest.  “I love you, Luke.”

“I love you too, kiddo,” Luke said, kissing his sister on the top of her head. “Thank you for coming to get me.”

“You’re welcome, Luke,” Natalie replied.  Brother and sister laid there in silence for a few moments before Natalie sat up and smiled reassuringly at her brother.  “Luke?”

“Hmm?”

“Why don’t you take a nap until Reid gets home?”

“That’s a good idea.  There are some movies in the living room if you want to bring one in here and watch it.”

Actually, I have this HUGE paper due on Friday.  Could I use your laptop?”

“Of course.  It’s in the room next door.  Why don’t’ you bring it here and I’ll sign in for you?”

“Okay,” Natalie agreed.

Reid scrubbed out after a 6-hour surgery and quickly headed off to the locker room to shower and change.  He hadn’t liked the idea of Luke driving himself home after chemo, so he wanted to get home as soon as possible.  He was just pulling on a t-shirt when a nurse from oncology walked in.  “Dr. Oliver?”

“Yeah?”

“Your husband left his phone here.  I thought I’d bring it to you when your surgery was finished.”

Reid sighed.  “Of course he did, thanks,” he said, taking the phone.  The nurse nodded and left the room, while Reid headed to his office.  When he got there, Reid saw that he’d missed 2 calls from Luke’s sister Natalie.  A sudden sense of foreboding washed over him and Reid listened to the first message.

“Hey Reid.  Um, my friend Mariah just called and apparently Luke showed up there? He seems to have forgotten how to get home and doesn’t have his phone.  I’ve tried calling my mom and dad, but they’re not answering.  If I don’t hear from you in the next 5 minutes, I’ll go get Luke.  Bye!”

Reid felt his heart jump in his throat as he pulled up the next message.

“Hi Reid, it’s me again.  I just picked up Luke from my friend’s house and he’s pretty shaken up.  I think you should get home ASAP.  I got ahold of my mom but she had a really important meeting she couldn’t miss.  I’ll stay here and work on some homework until you get home.  Bye!”

Reid felt his blood run cold and he hurriedly got his things together and sprinted from his office.  He let attending know he was leaving and rushed out of the hospital to his car.

Reid broke numerous traffic laws as he rushed home in order to get to Luke.  When he finally got home, he quickly put the car in park and went in the house.  “Luke? Natalie?” he called.

When there’s wasn’t an answer, Reid walked around the house until he got the bathroom and came upon a pitiful sight.  Natalie was sitting on the bathroom floor, Luke’s head in her lap.  The lights were off and Luke had a washcloth over his eyes.  Natalie was rubbing his head with one hand while scrolling through her phone with the other.

“What’s going on?” Reid demanded.

“Luke got sick, so we came in here.  But after he puked his guts out for like… ten minutes, he felt really tired and had a headache.  And I couldn’t really help him back to bed,” Natalie explained in a whisper.

“I see… Sorry I didn’t call… as soon as I got your messages, I rushed over here. Think I ran through several traffic lights…”

“That’s okay! I worked on a paper for school while Luke slept,” Natalie replied.

“How long have you two been in here?”

“Well… Luke fell asleep a half hour ago,” Natalie said.

“What happened exactly?”

“All I know is he got lost on his way home.  Luke didn’t really tell me a lot about it; you’ll have to ask him when he wakes up.”

“I’m awake,” Luke groaned.  “You two need to work on your whispering.”

Reid crouched down to the floor beside his husband and sister-in-law and stroked Luke’s head.  “Hey baby,” Reid murmured.  Luke gave him a half smile and removed the washcloth from his eyes.

“Hey,” he breathed.

“How about we get you off this floor and into bed so Natalie can go home, hmm?” Reid suggested.  He stood up and held out his hand.

Luke nodded and took Reid’s proffered hand.  Then Reid hauled his husband to his feet.  Luke’s knees promptly gave out and Reid caught him in his arms.  “Whoa there, hot stuff!” He bent forward, swept Luke up into his arms and began walking towards the bedroom with Natalie in tow.  Luke laid his aching head on Reid’s shoulder and allowed himself to be carried to bed.

When they reached the bedroom, Reid laid Luke down gently and covered him up with a blanket.  “Sleep, baby,” he murmured.  “I’m gonna just drop Natalie off at home and I’ll be right back, okay?”

“Okay,” Luke mumbled, his eyelids already beginning to droop.  “Thanks Natalie,” he yawned as his eyes finally closed.

“You’re welcome, Luke,” Natalie said softly.  Reid stepped aside so Natalie could lean down and kiss her brother on the forehead.  When she straightened back up, Reid gave her a comforting squeeze and they both left the room.

“I just need to grab my bag,” Natalie told Reid.

“Take your time,” Reid replied.  Once Natalie had retrieved her bag, they headed out to Reid’s car.

On the car ride to Natalie’s home, she was eerily quiet.  Reid looked over at her and frowned in concern; normally Natalie was very chatty, like Luke, and she had been very cheerful back at the house and on the messages she’d left on Reid’s phone.  Reid reached over and patted her knee awkwardly.  “Thanks for picking Luke up, Natalie.  It was pretty grown up of you…”  Natalie turned in her seat and looked at Reid in surprise; he wasn’t normally so friendly.  Sure, she and Reid got along, but he was pretty socially awkward when it came to dealing with teenagers.

“It was no big deal,” Natalie shrugged.

“On the contrary! It was a very big deal.”

“Well… Luke’s my brother; I’d do anything for him,” she replied.  Reid just nodded and the pair fell into an uncomfortable silence.

After a couple moments, Natalie turned to look at Reid again.  “Reid?”

“Hmm?”

“Is… is Luke gonna be okay? I mean, it can’t be normal for someone to forget where they live, can it?”

Reid had been thinking the same thing, but he could sense the worry in Natalie’s voice and thought over his answer carefully.  “Luke’s been through a lot in the past couple months.  And this new chemo regimen he’s on is aggressive.  I’m sure he’s just exhausted.  He’ll be okay, Natalie.”

Natalie shrugged.  “Okay…” She turned back to the window and Reid felt a little sick to his stomach.  He kept driving for a few yards until he found an empty parking lot.  Then he pulled over and parked the car.  Natalie sat up a little in the passenger seat and looked around.  “Why’d we stop here?”

“I just… you seemed like you had something else on your mind…” Reid said. Natalie looked down at her hands and shrugged.

“It’s just… Luke has always been there for me.  He’s my big brother and I really look up to him, you know?”  Reid nodded.

“I do.”

“I… I tried being upbeat and stuff when I picked him up from my friend’s house and when I got him home.  But I… when I saw him, I was kinda… shocked.  I mean, I’ve always seen Luke as this strong, happy person and now... seeing him that way? I’m just…. I’m scared of losing him,” Natalie said, tears beginning to form in her eyes.

Reid nodded and turned to stare out of the windshield.  “I am too,” Reid whispered almost inaudibly.

“You… you are?” Natalie asked in surprise.

“Yeah.  And like you, I try not to show it in front of Luke.  I love your brother very much, Natalie and I don’t know what I’d do without him.  He made me a better person… Before I met Luke, I was kind of this cold workaholic.  I casually dated but ultimately drove men away with my personality.  But not Luke.  We started off on the wrong footing, sure, but he soon saw past my flaws and helped me realize that I can be a better person.  Without him… I wouldn’t be the man I am today.  So yes, losing him terrifies me.  But you said it yourself; Luke is a strong person and he is going to beat this.”

“Do you really think so?”

“Yes.  And listen… if you ever need someone to talk to about this… well I’m always available, okay?”

Natalie’s face brightened.  “Really?”

“What are brother-in-laws for?” Reid replied, smiling at her.  Natalie leaned over the seat and planted a kiss on Reid’s cheek.

“Thank you, Reid,” she said.

“You’re welcome.  Now, let’s get you home, hmm?”