EQUALS 16/?
EQUALS…
Author: Scotianova
Beta-fairy: Carol38
Disclaimer: I don't own them and writing about them is just for fun.
Genre: A story about different shades of love
Pairing: Reid and Luke - as always
Characters: Reid Oliver, Luke Snyder, Ravi Oliver, Ruby Oliver II, Kathryn Peretti, Liath Orbanns, Damien Grimaldi, Henry Coleman,Dustin Donovan, Paul Ryan, Holly McLean…
Warning: none so far
Rating: sexual contents
Summary: On the surface they couldn’t be more different from every point of view, but if someone just looks closely at them…
AN: This is an attempt to invert some facts and whereabouts but I hope the character drawing is plausible- somehow at least ;)
16.
After feeling surprisingly well the first day after the surgery, Luke felt exhausted and worn out the following day and Reid not showing up didn’t help either.
When he was younger Luke sometimes had had the tendency to be confused about his feelings, but not anymore. His father had instantly recognized the signs; he was falling in love with Reid. It happened very fast, maybe it was a bit crazy, but it was what it was. In the past, because Luke knew himself so well he had always chosen the right moment to leave.
But it was different this time and things were getting complicated, because he didn’t want to run. Luke couldn’t stop thinking and fantasizing about Reid.
It wasn’t just the obvious. Luke smiled -sure he had a thing for those reddish-freckled-guys with thick hair, but it wasn’t just Reid’s looks. Many mothers had handsome sons. No the things Reid revealed about himself that night added to what Katie had told him and especially the way Reid focused on his kids - all this drew the picture of a multifaceted, dedicated and loving but torn man who tried to fulfill the expectations of a lot of people - his own needs and wishes coming second. How had Katie put it into words? It was Reid who paid the highest price for the Oliver-family-concept. She’d said something like that without giving any details though. Given Reid’s remark that he’d had a life in New York Luke assumed it wasn’t only the circumstances and environments he’d loved there. And then there was Reid’s ambiguity, that mixture of confidence and shyness, of purposefulness and tenderness, softness. Two things made Luke’s heart growing wings and his lower area become nervous: Reid’s physical, erotic presence and his dry sense of humor. Every time Reid grinned or the few occasions he had even laughed Luke wanted to grab him and kiss the hell out of him.
“Why don’t you stop by and say hello, Reid? I could use a bit of you right now, you know.”
Dr. Weis and Damian had assured him that Ravi was okay, so it couldn’t be that. Luke sighed, he missed Reid, and he wanted to see him if only for a few minutes, Reid’s presence would soothe him.
Maybe Reid was just busy but something told him that the gorgeous redhead avoided him deliberately today.
He sighed again, deeply this time.
Was he a bad parent because he couldn’t stop thinking about Reid and didn’t focus exclusively on Ravi?
Reid had been optimistic about Ravi’s prognosis and Luke believed him and he was sure that Katie, Reid and Liath were with Ravi 24 hours the day - and tomorrow when he’d hopefully feel better, he would stop by at Ravi’s room.
Luke still felt Reid’s thumbs caressing the back of his hand, God that had been so good, unexpected but so good. What an intimate gesture!
“I wished… I wished…”
Reid, tell me what! Please tell me what your wishes are and what they have to do with me!
Damian was sure about Reid being gay, probably his father wanted to comfort him, but he’d he had sensed it himself from the very first beginning. Luke couldn’t be so wrong, right?
“I wished… I wished…”
And then he’d almost run out of Luke’s room.
He can’t what? Admitting that he was developing feelings too?
Man, the hour hand was creeping today.
Reid, come on, open my door and come in - just a few minutes!
But when there was a soft knock at the door and Luke calmly answered it, it was Damian who entered the room smiling expectantly.
“Hi Papa.”
“Hello Luciano - really - so excited to see me?” Damian’s smile deepened while he watched his moping son. He knew it wasn’t only physical pain and discomfort bothering his son, since Dr. Weis had already filled him in, it seemed as if the poor doctor had waited for Damian to show up.
“What’s with that face, Luciano?”
Luke didn’t answer, he wasn’t in the mood for teasing.
“Is the handsome doctor bugging you - or more precisely the strange signals he’s giving you?”
“Please, Papa, I am not twelve!”
“Oh boy, when it comes to matters of the heart we are all twelve sometimes or even younger.”
“Oh wow, I managed to drag out the hint of smile out of my son - I guess now I’ve done my boy scout’s duty today.”
“Papa, it’s a bit more complicated.”
“It’s not…”
“You know what? Maybe I have something that might brighten up your mood.”
With that Damian pulled a file out of his small burgundy briefcase, Luke was sure it was handmade just for Damian by one of those small ateliers in Florence. It was so Damian, right down to the last detail he had a thing for exclusive things.
Hesitantly opening the file Luke froze. The first page was a photograph showing a face with almond-shaped dark eyes, a prominent nose, full lips, and a sympathetic smile corresponded with those warm eyes that looked straight in the observer’s eye. Thick long bluish-black hair framed the eye-catching features.
“Who is this?”
“Who do you think?”
“Papa!”
“It’s the one Reid Oliver lived with in New York - they were together for 13 years.”
Luke closed the folder first and then his eyes, trying to calm down for several reasons. His father had done it again, sneaked into another person’s life - for whatever reason. Sure, Damian probably thought he was doing Luke a favor but he didn’t.
“Listen, Papa, I don’t want you to do that - I thought we had an agreement…”
“But…”
“No, I know you want me to see clearly - but if Reid wants to open up, I am sure, he will when the time is right and if he wants to keep his private life private - then it’s how it should be. So please take this and put it into a shredder.” And he handed the folder back to Damian who frowned:
God, sometimes he really had a tough time with this holy version of Luciano. Why couldn’t the boy have more of his genes in him? They weren’t all bad, sometimes they were just convenient especially when they got you what you wanted. Now the great Damiano Grimaldi felt like a boy who was scolded.
“Look, Papa -“ at least Luke’s voice wasn’t upset anymore and the tension between them faded.
“In the end all the scheming, manipulating, spying on people didn’t make you happy, right? As far as I can judge you’re far better since you put the dark sides of being a Grimaldi behind and concentrated on the lighter parts - like charming the hell out of people.”
Well, Damian - just like Liath - knew that knowledge was power and in some way Luciano knew that too, but he used his knowledge of people and human kind in a different way than his father. It was the base of his attempts to explore human behavior and characters. And he was so good at it. Damian had read all of his books and being a man always recognizing quality he was so proud of his son. And the books made him see who Luciano really was. Eventually that was the reason Damian quit pining for Lily, because the way she tried to form Luke into her own narrow-minded patterns had almost destroyed him. Luciano’s wide, visionary mind just didn’t fit into Lily Walsh’s white-housed, dustless “perfect” world that wasn’t perfect at all. The moment Luciano had realized who his mother really was, he said goodbye to her and his old life.
“I guess, in her own way my mother loves me, but although she’s tried to come to terms with me being gay, there are those moments when she can’t hide that she still wants me to live a life ruled by her standards. And because of that she favored the man of all men who sickened me.
Arkie fits into her patterns and therefore she wanted me to take and put up with everything he served to me. She stood by and watched him castrate me - so how was I supposed to stay in her orbit?”
(Luciano Grimaldi, Respiratory Passages)
“What is going on in that head of yours, Papa?”
“I remembered a passage of your latest book - apropos - have I told you that it’s brilliant?”
“You’ve read the script and gave your blessing to it - don’t you remember, old man?”
Damian ruffled Luciano’s sticky strands - his boy needed a shower or at least a thorough cleaning. But all in good time.
Later Damian told his son that Dr. Weis was almost “cute” in his obvious crush for him.
“Yeah, the poor guys who are misled into thinking you’re gay. You of all men!”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You’re the straightest man, straighter than straight.”
“But I am capable of recognizing a nice man, Luciano. And I promise not to play him, okay?”
Damian was rewarded with his son’s warm smile and was happy about it. This was the greatest gift of his life, that he and Luciano finally achieved a stable connection. The older man stayed until late at night and promised to bring Luke a collection of newspapers the following day.
Luke was tired and although he loved his father he was relieved to eventually have some time alone.
So he could wonder and dream of Reid.
Startling he opened his eyes to an almost dark room.
“Sorry I didn’t intend to scare you.” Reid’s voice whispered coming from his seat an arm’s length from Luke’s bed.
“You didn’t scare me … I’m glad you’re here…since you seemed to avoid me all day long.”
“Sorry for acting like a fool yesterday.”
“You could make it up to me.”
“How?” Reid sounded a bit irritated.
“By telling me what you ‘wished’…”
There was silence then - for rather long moments.
“I wished we’d met under different circumstances.” With that Reid looked him straight in the eye as if silently challenging him: ”Well then, you got the answer you wanted - now deal with it.”
“What’s so bad about the circumstances we met? Ravi is in good place, Dr. Weis filled me in.”
“Luke, I am not an idiot nor am I blind, okay?”
“Nor are you straight, right?”
If Luke was afraid that Reid might be upset or at least irritated he was wrong. Reid smiled, he smiled at Luke and to himself averting his eyes and studied an abstract painting adorning the opposite wall of Luke’s room. Finally, finally he opened his beautiful mouth and answered:
“No, I am not. But it’s complicated - not my sexuality, I never hid or was ashamed of who I am, but there are so many things that make my life pretty complicated. Let us leave it with that, okay?”
“I’d be lying if I said I was okay with that. But it would help if I knew that there was at least the possibility of a possibility…under different circumstances.”
“The ‘possibility of a possibility’?” Reid smiled again and Luke melted once more. If Reid didn’t stop smiling like that in about a month he would be melted away and there wouldn’t be anything left of him.
“At least I know now from whom Ravi has gotten his unique approach to language.“
“Huh?”
“Yeah, when he was little he created flourish words like ‘cloud-bread’ for biscuits, ‘Mr. Breather’ for vacuum…and he calls Katie ‘Princess Mummy’ - 'because she has chosen him to be her son.”
Looking at Luke’s shiny eyes he added: “Yeah I know, sometimes it’s nearly impossible to not melt away because of them.” And Luke could do nothing but nod and try not to cry again, since he didn’t take Reid for a sentimental man.
So they sat there in silence for some time - not knowing what to say next.
“So what do you say - regarding the ‘possibilities’?”
“Luke - you’re no more an idiot nor blind than me, right?”
Luke sighed inwardly -again one of Reid’s favorite habits - saying something yet leaving a lot more in the open. But then Reid bent forward and cupped Luke’s cheek while intently looking him in the eye and Luke felt that usually steady doctor’s hand trembling and it felt very, very human and that was all Luke needed to know - for now. And after Reid had left to finally get some rest too, Luke fell asleep in no time.
Fortunately Luke’s recovery proceeded storybook-like from the fourth day on. It amazed him given he’d gone through a big abdominal operation evidenced by a several inches long scar. Well, he was a strong young man and in the best of health and the care he was given in the private clinic was optimal, but he was surprised by his progress nevertheless. He could have been discharged after eight days but Dr. Weis revealed that ‘Dr. Oliver’ wanted to keep “the patient” a few days longer at the hospital, just to be sure.
Luke was glad about the longer stay, since it gave him the opportunity to finally share some time with Ravi.
Damian spent several hours a day with his son but as soon as Luke was able to get up and pay Ravi a visit he did it without Damian, meeting Damian must wait. Luke knew how overwhelming Damian’s presence could be. So every day Luke would pay Ravi a visit. A short one to begin with and later on he sat with Ravi an hour or two. It was nice but the boy still upheld a strict allocation of tasks. Luke “was allowed” to sit with him, have a nice chat but every time there was something else he asked for Katie or Reid if they weren’t in the room anyway. It surely was an unconscious thing but the message was clear. Luke was okay with it - actually he found it kind of comforting - his son wasn’t one to be corrupted - true to the motto: Okay you are my biological father and donated a part of your liver to me and for that I am very grateful but still my parents responsible for everything else. Luke assumed it to be an unconscious behavior.
Now that Ravi’s facial color was back to normal his freckles were so much more prominent and Luke suddenly detected a lot of Ruby-Aurora in him. Once he read something about genetic research in Iceland and that people contain genes of ancestors who lived centuries ago. Fortunately enough Ravi didn’t seem to have the bad sides of Grimaldi genes in him - he was a good boy. Luke imperceptively shrugged, maybe his own father had also been a good boy and just the life he was born into had brought the grim sides out of him. At least Damian tried to be a better man now. It was never too late to change.
Mostly he and Ravi talked about this and that.
“Do you know that some people eat ‘liver’?”
“Well ‘Fegato Veneziano’ is a delicacy.” Luke smiled in return.
“Eating giblets is gross.”
“Who says that?”
“Daddy.”
Why wasn’t Luke surprised?
“So what does your Daddy like to eat?”
“Everything - except giblets.” Ravi chuckled and that sounded like a heavenly sound to Luke.
“So what’s your favorite food?”
The boy contemplated the question internally rating his favorite dishes.
“Rice pudding with red berry compote, chocolate ice cream, semolina slices with red raspberries and I like chicken and pasta. And you?”
“Oh, there’s a list…maybe it’s easier to tell what I don’t like - and that’s mushy food.”
“Sounds like Daddy - except for the giblets.” Ravi grinned but changed the subject;
“I have to stay here much longer than you.”
“Yeah, I know.”
“I can do it, you know, but it’s boring.”
Luke smiled, this was a good sign, right? That Ravi was finally getting a bit impatient!
“Where will you live when you leave the clinic?”
“We do hope he is staying with us, Ravi.” Katie chimed in.
Luke only looked up in surprise. But he liked that idea.
The day before Luke left the clinic to move back into the Oliver mansion - despite Damian feeling offended that Luke refused to live with him in a hotel for weeks - Ravi had finally met Damian for real. Luke noticed that Ravi was an observer like him. He didn’t talk much with Damian but followed each of Damian’s moves with his eyes and who would have thought that a boy of nine years would make Don Damiano a bit insecure?
“Is everything okay?” Luke asked the boy after Damian had left his room again.
“He’s different from you.”
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t know - don’t get upset - but I am not sure what to think of your father.”
Ravi’s big eyes were watching Luke intently now and the older man had no idea what to answer to that.
Author: Scotianova
Beta-fairy: Carol38
Disclaimer: I don't own them and writing about them is just for fun.
Genre: A story about different shades of love
Pairing: Reid and Luke - as always
Characters: Reid Oliver, Luke Snyder, Ravi Oliver, Ruby Oliver II, Kathryn Peretti, Liath Orbanns, Damien Grimaldi, Henry Coleman,Dustin Donovan, Paul Ryan, Holly McLean…
Warning: none so far
Rating: sexual contents
Summary: On the surface they couldn’t be more different from every point of view, but if someone just looks closely at them…
AN: This is an attempt to invert some facts and whereabouts but I hope the character drawing is plausible- somehow at least ;)
16.
After feeling surprisingly well the first day after the surgery, Luke felt exhausted and worn out the following day and Reid not showing up didn’t help either.
When he was younger Luke sometimes had had the tendency to be confused about his feelings, but not anymore. His father had instantly recognized the signs; he was falling in love with Reid. It happened very fast, maybe it was a bit crazy, but it was what it was. In the past, because Luke knew himself so well he had always chosen the right moment to leave.
But it was different this time and things were getting complicated, because he didn’t want to run. Luke couldn’t stop thinking and fantasizing about Reid.
It wasn’t just the obvious. Luke smiled -sure he had a thing for those reddish-freckled-guys with thick hair, but it wasn’t just Reid’s looks. Many mothers had handsome sons. No the things Reid revealed about himself that night added to what Katie had told him and especially the way Reid focused on his kids - all this drew the picture of a multifaceted, dedicated and loving but torn man who tried to fulfill the expectations of a lot of people - his own needs and wishes coming second. How had Katie put it into words? It was Reid who paid the highest price for the Oliver-family-concept. She’d said something like that without giving any details though. Given Reid’s remark that he’d had a life in New York Luke assumed it wasn’t only the circumstances and environments he’d loved there. And then there was Reid’s ambiguity, that mixture of confidence and shyness, of purposefulness and tenderness, softness. Two things made Luke’s heart growing wings and his lower area become nervous: Reid’s physical, erotic presence and his dry sense of humor. Every time Reid grinned or the few occasions he had even laughed Luke wanted to grab him and kiss the hell out of him.
“Why don’t you stop by and say hello, Reid? I could use a bit of you right now, you know.”
Dr. Weis and Damian had assured him that Ravi was okay, so it couldn’t be that. Luke sighed, he missed Reid, and he wanted to see him if only for a few minutes, Reid’s presence would soothe him.
Maybe Reid was just busy but something told him that the gorgeous redhead avoided him deliberately today.
He sighed again, deeply this time.
Was he a bad parent because he couldn’t stop thinking about Reid and didn’t focus exclusively on Ravi?
Reid had been optimistic about Ravi’s prognosis and Luke believed him and he was sure that Katie, Reid and Liath were with Ravi 24 hours the day - and tomorrow when he’d hopefully feel better, he would stop by at Ravi’s room.
Luke still felt Reid’s thumbs caressing the back of his hand, God that had been so good, unexpected but so good. What an intimate gesture!
“I wished… I wished…”
Reid, tell me what! Please tell me what your wishes are and what they have to do with me!
Damian was sure about Reid being gay, probably his father wanted to comfort him, but he’d he had sensed it himself from the very first beginning. Luke couldn’t be so wrong, right?
“I wished… I wished…”
And then he’d almost run out of Luke’s room.
He can’t what? Admitting that he was developing feelings too?
Man, the hour hand was creeping today.
Reid, come on, open my door and come in - just a few minutes!
But when there was a soft knock at the door and Luke calmly answered it, it was Damian who entered the room smiling expectantly.
“Hi Papa.”
“Hello Luciano - really - so excited to see me?” Damian’s smile deepened while he watched his moping son. He knew it wasn’t only physical pain and discomfort bothering his son, since Dr. Weis had already filled him in, it seemed as if the poor doctor had waited for Damian to show up.
“What’s with that face, Luciano?”
Luke didn’t answer, he wasn’t in the mood for teasing.
“Is the handsome doctor bugging you - or more precisely the strange signals he’s giving you?”
“Please, Papa, I am not twelve!”
“Oh boy, when it comes to matters of the heart we are all twelve sometimes or even younger.”
“Oh wow, I managed to drag out the hint of smile out of my son - I guess now I’ve done my boy scout’s duty today.”
“Papa, it’s a bit more complicated.”
“It’s not…”
“You know what? Maybe I have something that might brighten up your mood.”
With that Damian pulled a file out of his small burgundy briefcase, Luke was sure it was handmade just for Damian by one of those small ateliers in Florence. It was so Damian, right down to the last detail he had a thing for exclusive things.
Hesitantly opening the file Luke froze. The first page was a photograph showing a face with almond-shaped dark eyes, a prominent nose, full lips, and a sympathetic smile corresponded with those warm eyes that looked straight in the observer’s eye. Thick long bluish-black hair framed the eye-catching features.
“Who is this?”
“Who do you think?”
“Papa!”
“It’s the one Reid Oliver lived with in New York - they were together for 13 years.”
Luke closed the folder first and then his eyes, trying to calm down for several reasons. His father had done it again, sneaked into another person’s life - for whatever reason. Sure, Damian probably thought he was doing Luke a favor but he didn’t.
“Listen, Papa, I don’t want you to do that - I thought we had an agreement…”
“But…”
“No, I know you want me to see clearly - but if Reid wants to open up, I am sure, he will when the time is right and if he wants to keep his private life private - then it’s how it should be. So please take this and put it into a shredder.” And he handed the folder back to Damian who frowned:
God, sometimes he really had a tough time with this holy version of Luciano. Why couldn’t the boy have more of his genes in him? They weren’t all bad, sometimes they were just convenient especially when they got you what you wanted. Now the great Damiano Grimaldi felt like a boy who was scolded.
“Look, Papa -“ at least Luke’s voice wasn’t upset anymore and the tension between them faded.
“In the end all the scheming, manipulating, spying on people didn’t make you happy, right? As far as I can judge you’re far better since you put the dark sides of being a Grimaldi behind and concentrated on the lighter parts - like charming the hell out of people.”
Well, Damian - just like Liath - knew that knowledge was power and in some way Luciano knew that too, but he used his knowledge of people and human kind in a different way than his father. It was the base of his attempts to explore human behavior and characters. And he was so good at it. Damian had read all of his books and being a man always recognizing quality he was so proud of his son. And the books made him see who Luciano really was. Eventually that was the reason Damian quit pining for Lily, because the way she tried to form Luke into her own narrow-minded patterns had almost destroyed him. Luciano’s wide, visionary mind just didn’t fit into Lily Walsh’s white-housed, dustless “perfect” world that wasn’t perfect at all. The moment Luciano had realized who his mother really was, he said goodbye to her and his old life.
“I guess, in her own way my mother loves me, but although she’s tried to come to terms with me being gay, there are those moments when she can’t hide that she still wants me to live a life ruled by her standards. And because of that she favored the man of all men who sickened me.
Arkie fits into her patterns and therefore she wanted me to take and put up with everything he served to me. She stood by and watched him castrate me - so how was I supposed to stay in her orbit?”
(Luciano Grimaldi, Respiratory Passages)
“What is going on in that head of yours, Papa?”
“I remembered a passage of your latest book - apropos - have I told you that it’s brilliant?”
“You’ve read the script and gave your blessing to it - don’t you remember, old man?”
Damian ruffled Luciano’s sticky strands - his boy needed a shower or at least a thorough cleaning. But all in good time.
Later Damian told his son that Dr. Weis was almost “cute” in his obvious crush for him.
“Yeah, the poor guys who are misled into thinking you’re gay. You of all men!”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You’re the straightest man, straighter than straight.”
“But I am capable of recognizing a nice man, Luciano. And I promise not to play him, okay?”
Damian was rewarded with his son’s warm smile and was happy about it. This was the greatest gift of his life, that he and Luciano finally achieved a stable connection. The older man stayed until late at night and promised to bring Luke a collection of newspapers the following day.
Luke was tired and although he loved his father he was relieved to eventually have some time alone.
So he could wonder and dream of Reid.
Startling he opened his eyes to an almost dark room.
“Sorry I didn’t intend to scare you.” Reid’s voice whispered coming from his seat an arm’s length from Luke’s bed.
“You didn’t scare me … I’m glad you’re here…since you seemed to avoid me all day long.”
“Sorry for acting like a fool yesterday.”
“You could make it up to me.”
“How?” Reid sounded a bit irritated.
“By telling me what you ‘wished’…”
There was silence then - for rather long moments.
“I wished we’d met under different circumstances.” With that Reid looked him straight in the eye as if silently challenging him: ”Well then, you got the answer you wanted - now deal with it.”
“What’s so bad about the circumstances we met? Ravi is in good place, Dr. Weis filled me in.”
“Luke, I am not an idiot nor am I blind, okay?”
“Nor are you straight, right?”
If Luke was afraid that Reid might be upset or at least irritated he was wrong. Reid smiled, he smiled at Luke and to himself averting his eyes and studied an abstract painting adorning the opposite wall of Luke’s room. Finally, finally he opened his beautiful mouth and answered:
“No, I am not. But it’s complicated - not my sexuality, I never hid or was ashamed of who I am, but there are so many things that make my life pretty complicated. Let us leave it with that, okay?”
“I’d be lying if I said I was okay with that. But it would help if I knew that there was at least the possibility of a possibility…under different circumstances.”
“The ‘possibility of a possibility’?” Reid smiled again and Luke melted once more. If Reid didn’t stop smiling like that in about a month he would be melted away and there wouldn’t be anything left of him.
“At least I know now from whom Ravi has gotten his unique approach to language.“
“Huh?”
“Yeah, when he was little he created flourish words like ‘cloud-bread’ for biscuits, ‘Mr. Breather’ for vacuum…and he calls Katie ‘Princess Mummy’ - 'because she has chosen him to be her son.”
Looking at Luke’s shiny eyes he added: “Yeah I know, sometimes it’s nearly impossible to not melt away because of them.” And Luke could do nothing but nod and try not to cry again, since he didn’t take Reid for a sentimental man.
So they sat there in silence for some time - not knowing what to say next.
“So what do you say - regarding the ‘possibilities’?”
“Luke - you’re no more an idiot nor blind than me, right?”
Luke sighed inwardly -again one of Reid’s favorite habits - saying something yet leaving a lot more in the open. But then Reid bent forward and cupped Luke’s cheek while intently looking him in the eye and Luke felt that usually steady doctor’s hand trembling and it felt very, very human and that was all Luke needed to know - for now. And after Reid had left to finally get some rest too, Luke fell asleep in no time.
Fortunately Luke’s recovery proceeded storybook-like from the fourth day on. It amazed him given he’d gone through a big abdominal operation evidenced by a several inches long scar. Well, he was a strong young man and in the best of health and the care he was given in the private clinic was optimal, but he was surprised by his progress nevertheless. He could have been discharged after eight days but Dr. Weis revealed that ‘Dr. Oliver’ wanted to keep “the patient” a few days longer at the hospital, just to be sure.
Luke was glad about the longer stay, since it gave him the opportunity to finally share some time with Ravi.
Damian spent several hours a day with his son but as soon as Luke was able to get up and pay Ravi a visit he did it without Damian, meeting Damian must wait. Luke knew how overwhelming Damian’s presence could be. So every day Luke would pay Ravi a visit. A short one to begin with and later on he sat with Ravi an hour or two. It was nice but the boy still upheld a strict allocation of tasks. Luke “was allowed” to sit with him, have a nice chat but every time there was something else he asked for Katie or Reid if they weren’t in the room anyway. It surely was an unconscious thing but the message was clear. Luke was okay with it - actually he found it kind of comforting - his son wasn’t one to be corrupted - true to the motto: Okay you are my biological father and donated a part of your liver to me and for that I am very grateful but still my parents responsible for everything else. Luke assumed it to be an unconscious behavior.
Now that Ravi’s facial color was back to normal his freckles were so much more prominent and Luke suddenly detected a lot of Ruby-Aurora in him. Once he read something about genetic research in Iceland and that people contain genes of ancestors who lived centuries ago. Fortunately enough Ravi didn’t seem to have the bad sides of Grimaldi genes in him - he was a good boy. Luke imperceptively shrugged, maybe his own father had also been a good boy and just the life he was born into had brought the grim sides out of him. At least Damian tried to be a better man now. It was never too late to change.
Mostly he and Ravi talked about this and that.
“Do you know that some people eat ‘liver’?”
“Well ‘Fegato Veneziano’ is a delicacy.” Luke smiled in return.
“Eating giblets is gross.”
“Who says that?”
“Daddy.”
Why wasn’t Luke surprised?
“So what does your Daddy like to eat?”
“Everything - except giblets.” Ravi chuckled and that sounded like a heavenly sound to Luke.
“So what’s your favorite food?”
The boy contemplated the question internally rating his favorite dishes.
“Rice pudding with red berry compote, chocolate ice cream, semolina slices with red raspberries and I like chicken and pasta. And you?”
“Oh, there’s a list…maybe it’s easier to tell what I don’t like - and that’s mushy food.”
“Sounds like Daddy - except for the giblets.” Ravi grinned but changed the subject;
“I have to stay here much longer than you.”
“Yeah, I know.”
“I can do it, you know, but it’s boring.”
Luke smiled, this was a good sign, right? That Ravi was finally getting a bit impatient!
“Where will you live when you leave the clinic?”
“We do hope he is staying with us, Ravi.” Katie chimed in.
Luke only looked up in surprise. But he liked that idea.
The day before Luke left the clinic to move back into the Oliver mansion - despite Damian feeling offended that Luke refused to live with him in a hotel for weeks - Ravi had finally met Damian for real. Luke noticed that Ravi was an observer like him. He didn’t talk much with Damian but followed each of Damian’s moves with his eyes and who would have thought that a boy of nine years would make Don Damiano a bit insecure?
“Is everything okay?” Luke asked the boy after Damian had left his room again.
“He’s different from you.”
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t know - don’t get upset - but I am not sure what to think of your father.”
Ravi’s big eyes were watching Luke intently now and the older man had no idea what to answer to that.