Left and Right: Chapter Seven
Title: Left and Right (multi-chapter)
Author: dolce_amore
Summary: Reid injures himself in an accident six months after starting a relationship with Luke. This is the story of how Reid and Luke handle it.
Genre/Type: Romance/Drama/Future-Fic
Rating: R
Disclaimer: I do not own As the World Turns, it’s characters, or it’s settings. Though if you know where I can buy a Reid, please let me know. ☺
Disclaimer #2: Chapter titles are all lyrics taken from songs. I take no credit for them. They are being used for entertainment purposes only. All rights go to the artists that first penned them. ☺
Characters/Pairings in this chapter: Luke/Reid, Katie/Chris, Holden
Author's Notes: This is my Big Bang fic for LROnline. It's 23 chapters, though, so I figured I'd break it up instead of posting all the chapters at once. Enjoy! Comments = love.
---------------------
Seven: I Feel Lonely for All the Losers That Will Never Have Someone Like You to Guide Them and Help Along the Way
Chris came waltzing in and both men straightened up, though Luke’s hand maintained a protective stance on Reid’s leg.
“What’s up, Doc Jr.?” Reid asked, trying to muster up some of his usual snark for Doogie.
Chris ignored him and held the scans against the light, Reid leaned over, trying to analyze them at the same time, but Chris snatched them out of view. “Don’t forget that one,” Reid said, pointing to a third scan in Chris’s hand.
Chris rolled his eyes. “I didn’t forget it. You’re a nightmarish as a patient as you are a co-worker, you know that?”
“I didn’t realize we, the neurosurgeon and the pediatrician, ‘co’ worked.” Reid replied.
“My mistake. You’re just as nightmarish as a patient as you are my superior.”
Reid smiled with self-satisfaction.
As Reid and Chris discussed the scans, Luke tried his best to focus on what they were saying. After seeing Reid’s face go from hopeful to worried to downright devastated, though, it was as if he were thrown underwater, all sound drowned out to allow himself to more thoroughly focus his attention on Reid’s expressions.
As they spoke he heard a few sound bites. Reid had fractured more than one metacarpal in his left hand, but Luke couldn’t recall for the life of him which ones. He then heard Chris mention “closed reduction”. If Natalie hadn’t broken her arm just a few months prior, he wouldn’t have been able to decipher the doctor-speak, but he knew it meant no surgery was required to get the bones back in place. That was good, right?
He also heard Chris mention six weeks minimum in a cast. Then it would be on to therapy for several weeks. He couldn’t tell Reid for sure that he’d get his full strength and complete range of motion back in his hand and wrist until all was said and done. Reid nodded at this with weary knowledge, clearly already understanding that there was no guarantee he’d ever be completely back to normal.
Reid caught Luke’s glance, making Luke awake from his abstraction. Chris exited the room and Reid looked ready to cry. “What if I can never operate again, Luke?”
It was more a question for himself than for Luke, but he couldn’t take keeping these emotions bottled up. For once Reid wished he were the type to let loose easier. He wasn’t one to get drunk. He had never touched a cigarette. He never experimented with drugs in high school. He never let go. He didn’t like letting go; it wasn’t his style. Yet in this moment more than anything he wished he was more reckless. No even reckless, even - just more carefree, more easygoing, more… like Luke. Luke could be going through the worst of times and would smile all the while, and genuinely mean it, too. He didn’t realize how special of a gift that was, but Reid did. He envied, respected, and was a bit mesmerized by that quality all at the same time, especially in moments like this. He didn’t know how Luke did it.
Luke sighed, and rubbed Reid’s leg gently as he watched the gears turn in Reid’s mind at a million miles an hour. He didn’t know what to say. What could he possibly say? He couldn’t kiss it and make it better the way he wanted to. He couldn’t tell Reid he would be fine and would be back to operating in no time, because they both knew that wasn’t necessarily true.
“Whatever happens, we’ll deal with it together, alright? Just like always. We’re a team,” Luke said.
Reid nodded. The words were so simple, so clichéd. They sounded like lyrics to a sappy country song he would’ve heard in a restaurant in Dallas. But Luke spoke those words, and that made all the difference.
Chris came back in and casted Reid after giving him a local anesthetic to ease the pain. Luke retrieved his release papers (he had been so consumed in Reid he hadn’t even realized that they formally admitted him), and they were sent on their way.
Author: dolce_amore
Summary: Reid injures himself in an accident six months after starting a relationship with Luke. This is the story of how Reid and Luke handle it.
Genre/Type: Romance/Drama/Future-Fic
Rating: R
Disclaimer: I do not own As the World Turns, it’s characters, or it’s settings. Though if you know where I can buy a Reid, please let me know. ☺
Disclaimer #2: Chapter titles are all lyrics taken from songs. I take no credit for them. They are being used for entertainment purposes only. All rights go to the artists that first penned them. ☺
Characters/Pairings in this chapter: Luke/Reid, Katie/Chris, Holden
Author's Notes: This is my Big Bang fic for LROnline. It's 23 chapters, though, so I figured I'd break it up instead of posting all the chapters at once. Enjoy! Comments = love.
---------------------
Seven: I Feel Lonely for All the Losers That Will Never Have Someone Like You to Guide Them and Help Along the Way
Chris came waltzing in and both men straightened up, though Luke’s hand maintained a protective stance on Reid’s leg.
“What’s up, Doc Jr.?” Reid asked, trying to muster up some of his usual snark for Doogie.
Chris ignored him and held the scans against the light, Reid leaned over, trying to analyze them at the same time, but Chris snatched them out of view. “Don’t forget that one,” Reid said, pointing to a third scan in Chris’s hand.
Chris rolled his eyes. “I didn’t forget it. You’re a nightmarish as a patient as you are a co-worker, you know that?”
“I didn’t realize we, the neurosurgeon and the pediatrician, ‘co’ worked.” Reid replied.
“My mistake. You’re just as nightmarish as a patient as you are my superior.”
Reid smiled with self-satisfaction.
As Reid and Chris discussed the scans, Luke tried his best to focus on what they were saying. After seeing Reid’s face go from hopeful to worried to downright devastated, though, it was as if he were thrown underwater, all sound drowned out to allow himself to more thoroughly focus his attention on Reid’s expressions.
As they spoke he heard a few sound bites. Reid had fractured more than one metacarpal in his left hand, but Luke couldn’t recall for the life of him which ones. He then heard Chris mention “closed reduction”. If Natalie hadn’t broken her arm just a few months prior, he wouldn’t have been able to decipher the doctor-speak, but he knew it meant no surgery was required to get the bones back in place. That was good, right?
He also heard Chris mention six weeks minimum in a cast. Then it would be on to therapy for several weeks. He couldn’t tell Reid for sure that he’d get his full strength and complete range of motion back in his hand and wrist until all was said and done. Reid nodded at this with weary knowledge, clearly already understanding that there was no guarantee he’d ever be completely back to normal.
Reid caught Luke’s glance, making Luke awake from his abstraction. Chris exited the room and Reid looked ready to cry. “What if I can never operate again, Luke?”
It was more a question for himself than for Luke, but he couldn’t take keeping these emotions bottled up. For once Reid wished he were the type to let loose easier. He wasn’t one to get drunk. He had never touched a cigarette. He never experimented with drugs in high school. He never let go. He didn’t like letting go; it wasn’t his style. Yet in this moment more than anything he wished he was more reckless. No even reckless, even - just more carefree, more easygoing, more… like Luke. Luke could be going through the worst of times and would smile all the while, and genuinely mean it, too. He didn’t realize how special of a gift that was, but Reid did. He envied, respected, and was a bit mesmerized by that quality all at the same time, especially in moments like this. He didn’t know how Luke did it.
Luke sighed, and rubbed Reid’s leg gently as he watched the gears turn in Reid’s mind at a million miles an hour. He didn’t know what to say. What could he possibly say? He couldn’t kiss it and make it better the way he wanted to. He couldn’t tell Reid he would be fine and would be back to operating in no time, because they both knew that wasn’t necessarily true.
“Whatever happens, we’ll deal with it together, alright? Just like always. We’re a team,” Luke said.
Reid nodded. The words were so simple, so clichéd. They sounded like lyrics to a sappy country song he would’ve heard in a restaurant in Dallas. But Luke spoke those words, and that made all the difference.
Chris came back in and casted Reid after giving him a local anesthetic to ease the pain. Luke retrieved his release papers (he had been so consumed in Reid he hadn’t even realized that they formally admitted him), and they were sent on their way.