98 Learning curve
Word Soap: As The World Keeps Turning
Author: SYLnl
Title: #98 Learning curve
Rating: PG
Summary: “The most important thing about recovery is to pass the message on.” - Maurice Gibb
Big Thanks To: ltklo, for brushing up my grammar
Previously on As The World Keeps Turning:
#1 #2 #3 #4 #5 #6 #7 #8 #9 #10 #11 #12 #13 #14 #15 #16 #17 #18 #19 #20
#21 #22 #23 #24 #25 #26 #27 #28 #29 #30 #31 #32 #33 #34 #35 #36 #37 #38 #39 #40 #41 #42 #43 #44 #45 #46 #47 #48 #49 #50 #51 #52 #53 #54 #55 #56 #57 #58 #59 #60 #61 #62 #63 #64 #65 #66 #67 #68 #69 #70 #71 #72 #73 #74 #75 #76 #77 #78 #79 #80 #81 #82 #83 #84 #85 #86 #87 #88 #89 #90 #91 #92 #93 #94 #95 #96 #97
While he was informing Emily by phone, he saw the doctor coming and Paul blocked his way.
“Dr. Oliver, please wait.”
For a minute Reid seemed to ignore him, but he slowed down anyway. Paul’s grip on his elbow was firm as he pushed the man away from Java’s entrance.
“You need to hear this before you go in,” Paul pulled Reid down on a bench and when the doctor gave a quick nod, Paul explained what happened. As he expected, Reid was outraged, shocked and appalled, putting his head in his hands.
“Oh God.”
“I know. I’ve given him a knee on your behalf,” Paul whispered and despite the situation, Reid gave him a quick grin. He then took a deep breath and stood up.
“Thanks for the heads up. I need to go…”
Paul just nodded and Reid hurried in. He saw Luke talking to Casey, holding Danny close to his body. The boy seemed asleep, but when Reid entered the table, two small hands reached for him. Without a word he lifted Danny up, while leaning over to kiss Luke.
Before his shocked blond could say anything, Reid nodded. “Will’s brother told me.”
He sat down next to Luke, not even aware of the other people at the table. All he knew was that his family was upset and he didn’t have a clue how to fix that. Luke’s strong hand on his upper leg squeezed and when he looked into the brown eyes, he recognized the strength. The faith. The knowing. We will be okay.
It calmed Reid down and he looked up and met Casey’s eyes.
“Thanks for calling me.”
“Sure,” Casey shrugged. “Least I could do.”
Luke slapped him on the arm. “You did a lot, Case. If it wasn’t for you…” Luke shivered.
“Don’t even go there, Luke. I was there and I’m glad I was. Man, I was this close to…” Casey looked at Danny and shook his head.
“I’m glad you didn’t,” Reid softly replied. “He ruined enough.”
Casey nodded. “I know. I kept telling myself that. But the creepiest thing of it all was…this guy looked so normal.”
“I know. For some reason we expect little red horns on guys like that,” Reid smiled and looked at Luke.
“How did you know who he was?”
“Danny and I were enjoying the Christmas spirit and suddenly he froze and went into hiding behind my legs. For some reason I knew immediately.”
Reid’s hand softly caressed Danny’s hair. “What a brave boy you are.” His voice broke and he cleared his throat.
“No, I’m not. I’m scared, daddy.”
“I know, sweetie. But being brave doesn’t mean you can’t be scared. But you could have made a run for it and you didn’t. You stayed with Luke. That’s pretty brave to me.”
Danny had to think about that one and then he nodded.
“And we’ll make sure this man will never hurt you again.” Casey sounded determined and Danny gave him a shy smile.
“You are very strong.”
Casey looked proud. “I am.”
“I’m glad the police came.” Danny was suddenly very verbal and Luke and Reid smiled for a moment. Maybe this whole confrontation wasn’t a bad thing after all. Danny seemed relieved. Freed.
“Me too,” Casey gave him a huge smile. “He’s in jail now.”
Danny nodded, deep in thought. “What he did was wrong…”
“Very wrong,” Reid agreed, kissing the boy’s temple.
“And now it’s over…” for the first time Danny sounded like he really believed it.
“And now it’s over,” Luke confirmed, patting the boy’s leg.
Danny smiled and looked at the table. “Can I have another cocoa?”
-----
Luke took a deep breath, closing his eyes for a moment. Allowing himself to relax. Danny was asleep next to him on the couch and Reid’s office felt like a sanctuary. A good place and time to come to grips with this crazy day that started so normal.
Then again, how normal is a doctor’s appointment to examine your son’s genitalia? Luke slowly shook his head. Danny had put on a bold face, but both Luke and Dr. Rainsby had noticed the fear in the brown eyes. Luke smiled, remembering the gentle approach of the doctor. He had turned the whole ultra-sound scan into a game, explaining to Danny - and Luke - the images on the screen.
Dr. Rainsby hadn’t been too alarmed by what he saw and had taken a urine sample to rule out any STDs. The mere mention of the test had nauseated Luke and Dr. Rainsby had softly tapped Luke’s shoulder in silent support.
He had completed the examination with a telling thumbs up to Danny. “I’m glad to see you’re doing so much better, Danny. ”
His “thank you” had been polite and standoffish, but the small smile had been a present and Dr. Rainsby had acknowledged it as such.
After a session with Dr. Michaels - Danny hadn’t said much, but he hadn’t been too scared or aloof either - and a milkshake at Bob’s, they had stopped by at Lily’s room. She had been asleep and Luke had been grateful for that. He had touched her hand, whispering ‘I love you’ and he had lifted Danny to his chest so he could see his grandmother. The boy was fascinated by the large bandage around her head and after Luke explained the surgery, Danny had nodded.
“Can we see daddy now?”
After a short visit with Reid, they had gone to Old Town to meet up with Casey. Luke softly sighed, remembering the scary events that afternoon. He then pulled out his phone and created a mail. Subject: we’ve got him.
With Reid still on rounds, Luke just leaned back into the couch. He didn’t want to leave. Even without Reid actually being present, his office somehow offered Luke the energy to restore his balance. He even may have dozed off a bit, because he was startled by the soft “Luke?”
When he looked up, he smiled. Katie’s concern was all over her face and after she pulled up a chair, he nodded.
“Good to see you,” he softly said, with a quick look at Danny. The boy was still fast asleep.
“Same here,” Katie softly touched Luke’s knee. “I just got your mail and Ali told me you were here...I just had to see you…and him…”
“Thanks,” Luke squeezed the hand on his knee, “It was…disturbing.”
“I can quite well imagine that,” Katie shook her head, “But at least he can’t hurt any other kids, hopefully for a long time.”
“True,” Luke agreed, caressing Danny’s hair. “But we all know he’s just the tip of the iceberg.”
Katie nodded. “I don’t know if you heard, but Kim is planning a series on child abuse. What to look for, who to call…that kind of stuff.”
“I hadn’t heard, but I’m happy to hear that. I want to look into some projects too. To get involved in it with the foundation. But haven’t found the time to check it out yet.”
Luke looked a little annoyed with himself and Katie slapped him on his leg.
“Your focus is on Danny and that’s where it should be, Luke. You’re obviously doing a great job. That first picture you sent is still on my mind, but look at him now… he looks healthy.”
Luke nodded, not ready to share Danny’s examination with Katie.
“He’s getting there.” Luke looked up and saw Katie’s tired eyes.
“And how are you?”
He ignored her ‘Oh, don’t worry about me’ wave and when he kept looking at her, she smiled.
“Okay…so I’m making a big mess of my life yet again…”
Luke rolled his eyes. “As far as I know you haven’t messed up for a long time, so maybe it’s just your turn again.”
It made Katie laugh softly. “And I’m making the most of it.”
“Wanna share?”
Katie leaned back. “Well…let me summarize it for you…Me and Chris…somehow didn’t feel right anymore. But instead of making a clean and honest break, I just started avoiding him. And that wasn’t that hard, because Dan started paying attention to me.” Katie sighed for a moment, looking at her nails.
“And he’s great. He really is. And his resemblance to Brad was a great bonus, initially. But obviously he isn’t Brad and the more I learn about Dan, the more I realize he isn’t Brad. You know?”
Luke nodded, keeping silent.
“And all it does now is making me miss Brad even more. And I don’t want that anymore. But Dan…” Katie shrugged, “…let’s say he’s determined we can make it work.”
“Sounds like the Noah-syndrome to me,” Luke suggested and smiled at Katie’s confusion. “Never mind. How determined is he, though? Is he freaking you out?”
“A little,” Katie confessed. “Yesterday he told me he was convinced that fate had sent him to Chicago, to bring us together. And a part of me thinks that’s very romantic, but another part of me is sounding the alarm.”
Luke nodded. “Still waiting to hear where you messed up, though…”
“Well…I could have been in a steady relationship with Chris…”
“Someone I know would say that that would have been messing things up…” Luke grinned and his grin grew when he heard a male voice agreeing.
“That hot blond is right,” Reid leaned over to Luke for a soft kiss, gave Katie a kiss on her hair and sat on the other end of the couch, smiling at his sleeping son.
Katie shrugged. “I guess I’m just confused.”
“Nothing wrong with doubt,” Luke smiled, passing on one of the things he learned from Dr. Michaels, “Doubt just gives us a chance to look at our lives and figure out what we really want.”
“And if you don’t know what you want?” Katie rolled her eyes. She hated feeling like this.
“You just decide you don’t know what you want,” Luke replied.
Reid nodded, pointing at Luke with a proud smile.
“What he said.”
“You know, Katie…” Luke leaned forward and took her hand in his, “I’ve been there too. Not knowing what I wanted. Confused by my feelings for Noah and the pull between Reid and me… It scared me so much that it made me run back to what I knew. My comfort zone. Thank God Noah rejected me,” Luke chuckled when Reid murmured “Hear hear” - “But also thank God Reid made me leave when I turned to him. All of a sudden my choice was taken away. Noah didn’t want me and Reid didn’t want me. And that forced me to look at what I wanted.”
Luke looked at Reid and they shared a knowing glance. It made Katie smile.
“Yeah, maybe I need some distance from both of them…” her words gave her a sense of relief that surprised her. She took a deep breath, rose to her feet and kissed Luke on the cheek.
“Thanks Luke. I feel better.”
“Me too,” Luke laughed. Helping others always put his own challenges into perspective.
“See you guys tomorrow,” Katie hugged them both, “Emma offered to watch Jacob, so I guess I’ll come alone.”
“One is not such a wrong number,” Reid smiled, “when the two at hand aren’t right.”
Katie smiled. “When you’re right, you’re right, genius.”
Standing next to each other, hand in hand, Luke and Reid watched Katie leave.
“So I guess Dan’s out too…” Reid could help but grin.
“Yeah, for as far he lets himself push out…” Luke frowned. Something didn’t feel good, but he didn’t give it another thought when a soft tug at his trousers demanded his attention. He turned and smiled.
“Look who’s awake!”
Danny sat up and yawned expressively, suddenly realizing something.
“No nightmare!” His face was all smiley when both Luke and Reid clapped their hands.
“Now we’re talking!” Reid put his hand up and Danny high-fived him.
“And hungry,” the young boy looked a little shy, but when his dads both laughed, he joined them.
When Luke put his hand on Reid’s back and let his eyes asked for a status report, the doctor nodded.
“I’m done. Just need to check with Gwen and then we can go home.”
He smiled when Danny put his arms up at the word home and with a teasing growl Reid picked the boy up from the couch and held him above his head. All he saw in the brown eyes was trust and Reid’s smile grew.
He slowly lowered Danny to his chest and the boy threw himself around Reid’s neck.
“Come on, Monkey,” Reid smirked, “Let’s see if Gwen is ready to let me leave.”
And she was.