Left and Right: Chapter Eleven
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: Just Luke and Reid, babe.
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.
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Eleven: I Don’t Care, as Long as You’re Here
At around noon Luke awoke again. A smile spread across his face as he felt Reid’s arm against his skin.
He attempted to get out of bed without waking Reid up with no avail. At his first movement, Reid stirred, and ultimately opened his eyes. “Stay,” he murmured.
Luke resumed his previous position under the covers. “Okay.”
Luke propped himself up on his elbow to face Reid. Reid reached up and stroked Luke’s cheek gingerly. All was quiet except for the conversation occurring amongst their telling eyes.
“About this morning,” Reid said, breaking the silence. “I… didn’t mean it.”
Luke smiled gently. “I know. I’m sorry, too.”
“I did mean the part about you being a drama queen, though,” Reid added. Both men laughed. He paused.
“Are you okay?” He asked, studying Luke’s features, the cut under his eye, the bruise on his collarbone.
“I’m fine. I promise,” Luke assured him.
“It’s just… we crashed so hard. I can’t believe you’re not more badly injured. I’m glad you’re not, but…”
“I’m not hurt. I feel fine. I’m not going anywhere.”
“Don’t die before I do, okay?” Reid said randomly whilst letting out a heavy breath. His voice cracked in a way that ironically made Luke die a little.
Reid knew his request was melodramatic and irrational and… not Reid-like. Being asked to succeed a man whom he felt was an outstanding doctor to become the next Chief of Staff placed an image in Reid’s mind that he could not get out, though. There would come a time when he’d be Dr. Hughes’s age, when he’d be made to throw in the towel. Right now, his injury… it was, hopefully, only temporary. Someday, however, he would be old. His hands would be weakened, if not by something like arthritis then by old age itself, and he wouldn’t be able to operate anymore. At some point after that, he would be tired. He’d be age six hundred like Bob, old but most likely not as wise. And he’d have to quit medicine entirely. This mirrored his current predicament of putting the weight of his entire life onto Luke, which he didn’t look forward to, as at that point Luke would be tired, too. He’d be old and probably far wiser than Reid, even though Reid would never admit to it. Old Luke would stop working, too, but would still have his friends and his endless amount of family members. Old Reid would have Old Luke.
“Agreed, as long as you don’t die before I do, either,” Luke finally replied with a smile.
Reid nodded solemnly.
Silence encompassed their bodies. It was just the two of them, only them.
“Luke.” Reid whispered. Luke waited for Reid to follow it up with something more, but no other words escaped his lips, as though he was only saying it to ponder his name aloud.
The men stayed that way for a while, quiet, folded into each other, squinting as the sunlight danced between clouds and through their blinds and onto their bed.
“How was work?” Luke asked finally. “Speaking of work, I got your back-up beeper activated. It’s on the table.”
“For the second part - Thank you. And for the first part - it was… interesting.”
“How so?”
Reid sighed. “I talked to Bob. He wants me to take the week off,” he explained in a way that sounded as though he was giving a eulogy.
“I think that’s a good idea,” Luke said.
Reid groaned. “Everyone in this town is so encouraging of self-pity, I don’t get it. Is there anyone in Oakdale that would rather distract themselves by doing something productive instead of moping?”
“It’s not about moping, Reid,” Luke replied. “It’s about giving yourself a breather. You work so much. You’re under a lot of stress. Not allowing all this about your hand to sink in and just diving back into your work just wouldn’t be healthy.”
“I did let it sink in! Consider it sunken! How much am I supposed to think about it before I’m allowed to get back to work Was their a memo regarding appropriate coping periods that I missed?” Reid asked bitingly.
Luke shook his head. “Reid,” he whispered. “It’s not a bad thing to get a few days off to relax.”
“Luke, my work is how I relax. It is how I clear my mind. I need it, you know that.”
“What’s the harm in letting me instead of the hospital corridors take care of you for a week?” Luke asked casually.
Reid shrugged. “You have more important things to worry about. You don’t need to babysit me.”
“What could possibly be more important to me than you?”
Reid shook his head. “I don’t know. I just… all my life, people couldn’t wait to get rid of me - my classmates, my teachers, hell, even my parents… but not you. At least, not most of the time,” he chuckled. He paused and continued, “Sometimes I still wonder if, given a few days straight with me that aren’t broken up by working you’d realize you can’t wait to get rid of me, too,” he explained with the kind of ingenuity that only made it’s appearance around Luke. He followed the statement up with a laugh as a means to make it seem less weighty, but Luke knew better than to believe the guise.
Luke laughed, and Reid raised an eyebrow. “You are such a moron sometimes,” Luke said. “Reid - I like you.”
“It totally shows that you’re a writer. That was quite a complex statement right there,” Reid quipped.
Luke shook his head. “I’m serious. I like spending time with you. I miss you when I’m not with you. As strange as others may find it - I genuinely want to be around you. I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t.”
“That was so very romantic-comedy monologue of you to say,” Reid cracked.
“Reid!”
Reid sighed, getting more serious. “I’m used to my work taking care of me. It did for years and did a fine job at that. I don’t want to put all that on your shoulders for even a short amount of time. I’m not… easy.”
“I know. You’re an asshole. I have no delusions of grandeur about you.” Luke said with a grin. Reid laughed.
“How could you when the grandeur is for real?”
“True.”
Reid hesitated. “Bob and I discussed something else, too. He told me that I’m his first choice to succeed him as Chief of Staff,” he said, not able to control the smile that swept across his face as he delivered the news.
Luke’s eyes widened and he grinned from ear to ear. “That’s amazing! Did you say yes?”
“No. I thought it would be a boyfriendly thing to do to talk to you about it first,” Reid said.
Luke smiled. “Aww, shucks, you didn’t have to wait on me to accept.”
“Being Chief of Staff will mean a lot more hours spent working, more time away from home… it’s a big deal.” He said the words and suddenly remembered Katie’s spiel about marriage, which was that other “big deal” that he wanted to mention to Luke.
“Well, I appreciate that you wanted to run it by me. You want to accept, right? If it’s what you want, I say go for it.”
Reid smiled. “I do want to accept. I’m going to.” He paused. “You’d tell me if you had any objections, right?“
Luke nodded. “You know I hold back nothing with you,” he said with a laugh. “And really, even if I did object, would it stop you?”
“It… would be taken into consideration,” Reid said coolly with a smirk. Luke was lying and they both knew it - he was selfless to a fault, and would never deter Reid from doing something that would make him happy, even if it was at Luke’s expense. Reid both loved and was bothered by this quality.
He bit his lip. “You’d speak up if you’d objected just like you’d speak up if you wanted to get married, right?” he said, trying to be casual but not sounding it at all.
Luke gave him a confused look. “I… guess. Where did that come from? I didn’t realize you even gave marriage a thought.”
Reid shrugged. “I don’t. I mean, I didn’t, until Chris sprung it on Katie and she acted as though it would be the end of the world if she didn’t say yes,” he explained. “You and Katie are annoyingly alike in that you’re both all romantic and shit, and if marriage is a big deal to her I figured it must be a big deal to you, and being that I’m not exactly a ‘feelings’ guy I wasn’t sure if you wanted to do it, and…” he stopped himself as he caught himself talking in circles.
Luke smiled gently. “Reid, stop babbling. Everything is okay. I don’t secretly want to get married. I mean,” he beamed, “you’re stuck with me for the duration whether we make it legal or not. But we haven’t been together that long. We have all the time in the world to get married - or maybe not get married. Right now though? Everything feels right just how it is.”
Reid nodded. “Good. I agree. Okay. Now we don’t have to have another ‘together forever’ conversation for a while. Thank God.”
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: Just Luke and Reid, babe.
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.
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Eleven: I Don’t Care, as Long as You’re Here
At around noon Luke awoke again. A smile spread across his face as he felt Reid’s arm against his skin.
He attempted to get out of bed without waking Reid up with no avail. At his first movement, Reid stirred, and ultimately opened his eyes. “Stay,” he murmured.
Luke resumed his previous position under the covers. “Okay.”
Luke propped himself up on his elbow to face Reid. Reid reached up and stroked Luke’s cheek gingerly. All was quiet except for the conversation occurring amongst their telling eyes.
“About this morning,” Reid said, breaking the silence. “I… didn’t mean it.”
Luke smiled gently. “I know. I’m sorry, too.”
“I did mean the part about you being a drama queen, though,” Reid added. Both men laughed. He paused.
“Are you okay?” He asked, studying Luke’s features, the cut under his eye, the bruise on his collarbone.
“I’m fine. I promise,” Luke assured him.
“It’s just… we crashed so hard. I can’t believe you’re not more badly injured. I’m glad you’re not, but…”
“I’m not hurt. I feel fine. I’m not going anywhere.”
“Don’t die before I do, okay?” Reid said randomly whilst letting out a heavy breath. His voice cracked in a way that ironically made Luke die a little.
Reid knew his request was melodramatic and irrational and… not Reid-like. Being asked to succeed a man whom he felt was an outstanding doctor to become the next Chief of Staff placed an image in Reid’s mind that he could not get out, though. There would come a time when he’d be Dr. Hughes’s age, when he’d be made to throw in the towel. Right now, his injury… it was, hopefully, only temporary. Someday, however, he would be old. His hands would be weakened, if not by something like arthritis then by old age itself, and he wouldn’t be able to operate anymore. At some point after that, he would be tired. He’d be age six hundred like Bob, old but most likely not as wise. And he’d have to quit medicine entirely. This mirrored his current predicament of putting the weight of his entire life onto Luke, which he didn’t look forward to, as at that point Luke would be tired, too. He’d be old and probably far wiser than Reid, even though Reid would never admit to it. Old Luke would stop working, too, but would still have his friends and his endless amount of family members. Old Reid would have Old Luke.
“Agreed, as long as you don’t die before I do, either,” Luke finally replied with a smile.
Reid nodded solemnly.
Silence encompassed their bodies. It was just the two of them, only them.
“Luke.” Reid whispered. Luke waited for Reid to follow it up with something more, but no other words escaped his lips, as though he was only saying it to ponder his name aloud.
The men stayed that way for a while, quiet, folded into each other, squinting as the sunlight danced between clouds and through their blinds and onto their bed.
“How was work?” Luke asked finally. “Speaking of work, I got your back-up beeper activated. It’s on the table.”
“For the second part - Thank you. And for the first part - it was… interesting.”
“How so?”
Reid sighed. “I talked to Bob. He wants me to take the week off,” he explained in a way that sounded as though he was giving a eulogy.
“I think that’s a good idea,” Luke said.
Reid groaned. “Everyone in this town is so encouraging of self-pity, I don’t get it. Is there anyone in Oakdale that would rather distract themselves by doing something productive instead of moping?”
“It’s not about moping, Reid,” Luke replied. “It’s about giving yourself a breather. You work so much. You’re under a lot of stress. Not allowing all this about your hand to sink in and just diving back into your work just wouldn’t be healthy.”
“I did let it sink in! Consider it sunken! How much am I supposed to think about it before I’m allowed to get back to work Was their a memo regarding appropriate coping periods that I missed?” Reid asked bitingly.
Luke shook his head. “Reid,” he whispered. “It’s not a bad thing to get a few days off to relax.”
“Luke, my work is how I relax. It is how I clear my mind. I need it, you know that.”
“What’s the harm in letting me instead of the hospital corridors take care of you for a week?” Luke asked casually.
Reid shrugged. “You have more important things to worry about. You don’t need to babysit me.”
“What could possibly be more important to me than you?”
Reid shook his head. “I don’t know. I just… all my life, people couldn’t wait to get rid of me - my classmates, my teachers, hell, even my parents… but not you. At least, not most of the time,” he chuckled. He paused and continued, “Sometimes I still wonder if, given a few days straight with me that aren’t broken up by working you’d realize you can’t wait to get rid of me, too,” he explained with the kind of ingenuity that only made it’s appearance around Luke. He followed the statement up with a laugh as a means to make it seem less weighty, but Luke knew better than to believe the guise.
Luke laughed, and Reid raised an eyebrow. “You are such a moron sometimes,” Luke said. “Reid - I like you.”
“It totally shows that you’re a writer. That was quite a complex statement right there,” Reid quipped.
Luke shook his head. “I’m serious. I like spending time with you. I miss you when I’m not with you. As strange as others may find it - I genuinely want to be around you. I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t.”
“That was so very romantic-comedy monologue of you to say,” Reid cracked.
“Reid!”
Reid sighed, getting more serious. “I’m used to my work taking care of me. It did for years and did a fine job at that. I don’t want to put all that on your shoulders for even a short amount of time. I’m not… easy.”
“I know. You’re an asshole. I have no delusions of grandeur about you.” Luke said with a grin. Reid laughed.
“How could you when the grandeur is for real?”
“True.”
Reid hesitated. “Bob and I discussed something else, too. He told me that I’m his first choice to succeed him as Chief of Staff,” he said, not able to control the smile that swept across his face as he delivered the news.
Luke’s eyes widened and he grinned from ear to ear. “That’s amazing! Did you say yes?”
“No. I thought it would be a boyfriendly thing to do to talk to you about it first,” Reid said.
Luke smiled. “Aww, shucks, you didn’t have to wait on me to accept.”
“Being Chief of Staff will mean a lot more hours spent working, more time away from home… it’s a big deal.” He said the words and suddenly remembered Katie’s spiel about marriage, which was that other “big deal” that he wanted to mention to Luke.
“Well, I appreciate that you wanted to run it by me. You want to accept, right? If it’s what you want, I say go for it.”
Reid smiled. “I do want to accept. I’m going to.” He paused. “You’d tell me if you had any objections, right?“
Luke nodded. “You know I hold back nothing with you,” he said with a laugh. “And really, even if I did object, would it stop you?”
“It… would be taken into consideration,” Reid said coolly with a smirk. Luke was lying and they both knew it - he was selfless to a fault, and would never deter Reid from doing something that would make him happy, even if it was at Luke’s expense. Reid both loved and was bothered by this quality.
He bit his lip. “You’d speak up if you’d objected just like you’d speak up if you wanted to get married, right?” he said, trying to be casual but not sounding it at all.
Luke gave him a confused look. “I… guess. Where did that come from? I didn’t realize you even gave marriage a thought.”
Reid shrugged. “I don’t. I mean, I didn’t, until Chris sprung it on Katie and she acted as though it would be the end of the world if she didn’t say yes,” he explained. “You and Katie are annoyingly alike in that you’re both all romantic and shit, and if marriage is a big deal to her I figured it must be a big deal to you, and being that I’m not exactly a ‘feelings’ guy I wasn’t sure if you wanted to do it, and…” he stopped himself as he caught himself talking in circles.
Luke smiled gently. “Reid, stop babbling. Everything is okay. I don’t secretly want to get married. I mean,” he beamed, “you’re stuck with me for the duration whether we make it legal or not. But we haven’t been together that long. We have all the time in the world to get married - or maybe not get married. Right now though? Everything feels right just how it is.”
Reid nodded. “Good. I agree. Okay. Now we don’t have to have another ‘together forever’ conversation for a while. Thank God.”