Now and Again (25/??)
Title: Now and Again
Author: alissablue
Rating: PG-13/R, will be NC-17 eventually.
Characters/Pairings: Luke/Reid, Noah, other Oakdale characters and an OC here or there.
Category: Fix it-fic, AU
Summary: “If men define situations as real, they are real in their consequences.”- W.I. Thomas
Warnings: Angsty Angst, some mindfuckery
Disclaimer: Do not own. Wish I did, though. I could make them do all sorts of kinky stuff.
A/N: Keywords for this fic are ‘patience’ and ‘payoff’. Title credit goes to my epically awesome beta slayerkitty, who deserves a round of applause for sitting through my long rants, freak outs, smut-related giggles and posting hesitation.
A/N: Me + comments is like... Reid + Sandwiches<3.
Prologue / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 / 10 / 11 / 12 / 13 / 14 / 15 / 16 / 17 / 18 / 19 / 20 /
21 / 22 / 23 / 24 /
Chapter 25: Nothing’s forever in this world
All she wanted or frankly needed was a hot, steaming cup of coffee, as black and strong as she could convince - or force, because it was her damn wedding day and her damn groom to be wasn’t there and she damn well deserved a damn cup of coffee, just the way she damn well liked it- the barista to give her. And as she sat down and thought about all the things that had so far gone wrong on what was supposed to be the best day of her life, she couldn’t stop the tears from falling down her face.
Sniffling, openly letting the soft sobs escape from her, Molly could practically hear the glare from the guy sitting at the table to her left.
Reid heard the sniffles, the soft sobs coming from the dark haired woman to his right. She was pretty, though her make-up was a little heavily applied and his first thought was that he’d probably be attracted to her, if she wasn’t a blubbering mess. Or had a cock. But then again, this was Oakdale, so that probably wasn’t totally out of the realm of possibilities.
“What? Are you another person who will tell me everything’s gonna be all right? Because I swear to God, if I hear that one more time-”
“Nope, not that kind of person.” The guy smirked at her and for a second she wanted to punch him, until he handed her a napkin and awkwardly gestured for her to wipe her tears.“But if you’re going to keep leaking those tears, you should probably pick a better place than a coffee shop. Some people come here to, you know, drink coffee.”
“You should tell that to my groom...,” Molly chuckled, as she finished wiping her tears, the white napkin now stained by smudges of the mascara she’d spent a considerable amount of time applying just right. “Or, groom to be, seeing as he’s chasing his ex-wife, when we should be getting married right now.”
“Ouch. And you’re still with him, because…?”
“I love him, more than I probably should. And I want to spend the rest of my life with him.” The woman smiled as she said the words, fiddling with the golden engagement ring on her left hand and the doctor rolled his eyes. What was it with the people in this town?
“This is Oakdale. The ‘rest of your life’ means ‘until your socks get dirty’.”
“Wow, mister, what did sentimentality ever do to you? Some girl stole your heart and stomped all over it?”
Reid sighed and looked down at his coffee, now cold and useless with a heap of sugar at the bottom, because he hadn’t been able to stop thinking of a certain young blonde. Stomped seemed like an understatement, too small of a word to even cover the bases or grasp the fine print of the cluster fuck or shredded bits and pieces he associated with the matters of the heart that currently held him captive.
“Doctor. Guy. But no. It’s just the hypocrisy I can’t stand. Nothing’s forever in this world. Things change, people move on.”
“Maybe… But that doesn’t make it any easier. And forever is worth a try, in my opinion.”
“I’m just saying… It wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world, if you decided not to marry the guy. And if you do, at least make sure he’s not chasing that ex-wife anymore.”
“So, doctor…?”
“Oliver. Dr. Oliver.”
“What kind of a doctor are you? Are you a therapist?”
“Shit, no-” He narrowed his eyes at her and gestured at the dark blue scrubs he was wearing. “I’m a neurosurgeon. But it’s not exactly the highlight of my day, running into a crying, blubbering woman, so I’ll do anything to try to avoid that from happening again.”
“You really are something, you know?”
“That’s what the ladies tell me.”
********
“Holden… we need to talk.” Molly had said, when she’d returned to the Snyder farm. After Holden had arrived, he’d started calling everyone he knew, desperately trying to find his fiancée. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt this guilty about anything and he swore to himself that he’d spend the rest of his life making this up to his bride, if she would only let him.
That had been ten minutes ago and now, Molly and Holden were upstairs, talking -or, well, shouting and yelling- while Luke and Abigail pretended they couldn’t hear every word of the shouting match upstairs. Parker and Faith had taken Ethan and Natalie to the living room to watch cartoons, but Luke and his sister had remained in the kitchen, preparing lunch for the younger Snyders.
“Do you think they’ll still get married?” Abigail asked, the hopeful tone in her voice not lost on Luke.
“I honestly have no idea, but I think I’d like them to. It would be nice if we had a Snyder wedding that actually stuck.”
“No, you just don’t get it, Holden-”
“Then explain it, make me understand.”
“All I want is for you to choose me. Just me, just this once, just today. Think you can do that?”
“Of course- Of course I can, I love you, you know that.”
“I’m not so sure about that right now… God, I was so blind, all this time. But this morning, I went to get a cup of coffee, to clear my head and I met this guy and even Dr. Oliver- who I’d never met before in my life- could see that I deserve better than someone who won’t choose me.”
That caught Luke’s attention.
Dr. Oliver, ReidReidReid, his Reid had talked to Molly. Just like that, their lives had become more entangled, more intertwined, more meshed and blended, growing like branches of a tree and being planted like seeds or laid out like a yellow brick road to the Dorothy in him trying to find the wizard.
It was this small thing, just the tiniest of connections, that made him think. The connection felt like a piece of a puzzle in his mind, fitting like everything about Reid usually did. So far, there hadn’t been anything about Reid that had surprised him. None of his movements and mannerisms and features and the facts of his life had been any different from what Luke had seen in his dreams for months.
And despite the fact that he was still testing the waters a bit when it came to the surgeon, slowly trying to get past the barriers, all that both scared him about Reid and drew him closer each time he ran into him, despite all that, it felt somewhat… right, exhilarating and the way Reid made him feel…
Reid made him feel so much.
And Luke didn’t think there was anything like it. He barely knew the guy -not counting his dreams in those six months, seven days and nine hours-, but the ache, the ache he felt when Reid wasn’t around and the chills he felt when Reid was, made him forget about all that. The time frame didn’t matter, it shouldn’t. The only thing that mattered in the end was how Reid made him feel, he realized.
- “There’s so much I don’t know about you.”
“You know the important parts.”-
The next thing he knew, he was walking toward the door, car keys in hand and ready to go.
“Luke, where are you going?”
“Just call me if something happens and tell dad that I’ll be back later, okay? There’s something I need to do.”
********
Chris Hughes was in a rush to get somewhere.
Somewhere he could be alone, somewhere no one would notice. He’d been struggling lately, struggling with life, with love, with getting up in the morning. Struggling with something as simple as taking a breath. He was falling apart, his world was falling apart and he knew that it was his own fault for not taking better care of himself, but it was too late to fix that mistake. He could fix himself, he knew he could -would-, if he could just hang on long enough.
He’d be okay, he had to be. For himself, for his family and for Katie.
If Reid Oliver hadn’t been distracted, preoccupied with thoughts of Luke Snyder, if he had been paying attention to his surroundings, he would have noticed. His back wouldn’t have been to the supply closet across the hall and he would have been able to hear every sound from sneakers to needles to unsteady breaths taken several feet away from him. He would have seen or heard Chris Hughes hurriedly going into a supply closet. Then, perhaps, he would have followed him and caught him holding a syringe, as the Chief of Staff’s son tried to help himself make it through another day.
But Reid Oliver was distracted, all the time, all day long, preoccupied with thoughts of Luke Snyder, who, after Chris Hughes had already disappeared into the supply closet, approached Reid Oliver, the hesitation that had been eating away at him replaced by a calm determination.
Luke stood a few feet behind Reid. He took a deep breath, hoping to inhale bits of oxygen that would absorb the tinge of worry and the bundle of nerves in the pit of his stomach. He knew what he was doing there, why he was currently approaching Reid and he figured that if he didn’t at least try to get closer to Reid right now, he never would. Luke also knew exactly what he wanted deep down, what he needed and what he perhaps owed himself to find out and explore and hear and taste and feel.
He just wanted to feel Reid.
All of it and everything and nothing and something. Anything.
“Dr. Oliver.” He didn’t realize he wasn’t imagining Luke’s voice, until he felt the warm hand on his shoulder. He turned around, looking right into Luke’s chocolate brown eyes and he could feel the holes boring into his soul.
“Mr. Snyder… If you’re here to see Mr. Mayer, you’re out of luck, because he was released two days ago.”
“No, actually…” Luke ducked his head and smiled, before looking up at Reid again with a slight, confident smirk.
“I’m here to see you.”
NEXT
********
A/N: 1) I'm feeling a little crappy today, so please be nice, 'kay? 2) I apologize for the delay in posting. School is killing me right now and my once very large posting cushion seems to be shrinking by the day. But I'm working on it. 3) Three wedding chapters down, three more to go. Next chapter is about 95% Luke/Reid and 5% of something else and I'll try to post that chapter this Friday and if not then, definitely this weekend. Thank you for reading<3.