ExamRoom!Luke
"We're not back together; you know that," Luke said defensively, irritated that Reid was being such a jerk. It was because he was jealous. Luke could see it. Why wouldn't Reid admit it?
"Does Noah realize that?" Reid asked, equally frustrated.
"We're trying to work things out," Luke answered, shrugging slightly and looking down.
Reid threw his pen down on the table. "Well, good luck with that, Mr. Snyder," he said, moving to step around Luke.
Luke moved in front of him. "No, don't call me that," he pleaded.
Reid stepped back. "What do you want from me?" Luke could hear the pain in his voice. "Tell me..." He stepped toward Reid and put his hand on his arm. "You want to pretend nothing happened between us? That's not the way I work."
Luke moved his hand to the back of Reid's neck, pulled him forward, and kissed him gently. "I don't want that either, Reid. I needed Noah to wake up, and he did. And he can see, thanks to you."
"He wants you back. He told me so, when I was examining him," Reid said, his hand on Luke's forearm, trying to pull it away from his neck.
Luke held firm. "Listen to me. I am going to tell you something." Reid tried to step back, but Luke put his other hand on his upper arm. "Reid. I am only going to say this once, and then you need to stop acting like this. You have nothing to be jealous about. "
"I'm not jea...."
"Look at me," Luke said, shaking Reid and stopping his words. Reid raised his eyes to meet Luke's but then he looked away. "Reid." Reid returned his eyes to Luke's reluctantly. "Listen to me. I am not getting back together with Noah. He's not what I want."
"You just said you were trying to work things out with him."
"I'm trying to finalize things with him. He seems to think we can work past all of the crap that has happened between us since his accident, but we can't. And even if we could, I'm not sure I'd even want that. I'm sick of this cycle. Nothing I did was ever good enough, we'd grow apart, and then when he decided he wanted me, I'd go back. Because of that, he thinks I'm going to just run back to him this time too. But I'm done. I'm tired of it." Luke shook his head. "I broke up with him weeks ago, but it's like his blindness was still tethering me to him. I felt responsible, even though logically I knew that wasn't true...but now...he can see, and there's a huge amount of freedom for me in that...........and my wanting to end it with him has nothing to do with you. There are reasons I broke up with him, and those are all still valid. I'm tired of feeling like a fucking yo-yo. On the roof today, I tried to tell him. I DID tell him that my feelings for him had changed, but he wasn't hearing me. He didn't want to hear me. But I need you to hear me now. I don't know exactly how I feel about you, but I know I like you." He moved his hands to the sides of Reid's head and held him. "I want to spend time with you. I want to learn more about you. But, Reid, you've got to trust me. If you don't trust me, this isn't going to work. And you can't freak out when you see me talking to him."
"I don't freak out," Reid said, scowling at Luke.
Luke laughed. "Oh my God, really? You were a jerk to me just a little while ago..."
"That's because you were an idiot and took a post-OP patient, who has literally been in the dark for months, up on the roof, into the sunlight, and..."
"Reid, cut it out. I didn't like the way you talked to me. The only reason I didn't say anything at the time is that I didn't want to disrespect you in front of your patient. But it wasn't cool. I don't know where this thing between us is going, but I can tell you that it won't go very far if you treat me like that."
Reid scratched the side of his head and looked down, nodding. "I'm sorry. Yeah." He nodded again. "Maybe I could have gone about it differently."
"I'm sorry too.....because you're right," Luke said, slotting his hand into Reid's. "I shouldn't have let him talk me into taking him outside without checking with you or another physician on the floor, or at the very least a nurse."
"They would have told you 'no.'"
Luke chuckled. "I know. It was irresponsible."
"And I'm sorry I was such a dick," Reid said, rolling his eyes and looking off to the side.
Luke took Reid's face in his hands. "Want to know a secret?" Reid raised his eyebrows in affirmation. "Your lack of a filter.............it's oddly endearing to me. I always know where I stand with you."
Reid nodded, stepped into Luke, and put an arm around his shoulders. Luke's hands dropped, and he wrapped his arms around Reid's waist. "I like you," Reid said quietly, his breath tickling Luke's right ear. "A lot."
Luke smiled, and Reid kissed him, softly at first, but then Luke parted his lips, and Reid deepened the kiss. After a few moments, Luke started to feel the want swirling through his abdomen as it had the afternoon after Noah's surgery, so he pulled back reluctantly. "C'mon," he said, "Let's go check on Noah. We'll put on a civil front for him," Luke teased.
Reid nodded and kissed Luke gently before following Luke out into the hall.
"Noah!" Luke said, seeing his ex just outside the room. "What are you doing out of bed?"
"Dr. Oliver?" Noah asked, looking past Luke and squinting.
"Yeah. It's me."
Noah turned to Luke. "What were you guys doing in there?"
"Uh...Dr. Oliver and I were talking about our argument earlier.....coming to an agreement. Right, Dr. Oliver?"
Reid cleared his throat. "Um, yeah. Right. An agreement."
"It looked like you were hugging," Noah said, confused.
"Oh," Luke chuckled awkwardly. "We were. I was thanking Dr. Oliver for the restoration of your sight, and you know how I am, always getting a little carried away....I don't know.....I just hugged him."
"But you hate him," Noah said.
"I'm right here," Reid said, crossing his arms and looking offended.
"I don't hate him," Luke said, locking eyes with Reid. "I don't hate him at all..."
Silence hung in the air as Noah struggled to look back and forth between the two men, his perception blurry. "What's going on between you two?"
Luke smiled and licked his bottom lip. "What's going on between us is that we're behind on some decisions that need to be made for the new neuro wing....between the trip to Dallas, getting Reid reinstated, and worrying about your well-being the past few days, we've neglected some issues with the neuro wing that need to be discussed. So.........let's get you back into bed, Noah, and then the doctor and I are going to have a business lunch to discuss how we need to move forward..." Luke smiled when he saw Reid smirk. "...with the wing."
"I'm hungry too. Why don't I go with you?" Noah asked, as Luke took his elbow to guide him back to the room.
"Um, no...........um....I've asked an optometrist, Dr. Fuller, to examine your eyes...run some vision tests," Reid stuttered. "Yeah. Um........he should be here in about 45 minutes. It's better that you stay here. Plus, you just came up out of a coma; you shouldn't even be walking around yet. C'mon...back in your room."
Noah sighed. "Fine. But you're both acting weird."
Luke bit back a smile and looked back at Reid as he walked Noah to his room.
A few mintues later, Luke found Reid at the nurse's station. "C'mon, you want to get out of here?"
"Yes," Reid said smiling. "Where do you want to go?"
"I don't know....anywhere," Luke said, his voice sounding deeper and raspier than normal. "Anywhere," he repeated.
Reid stared at Luke's lips for a few moments before reaching over the counter for the phone. He cleared his throat. "Okay, yeah...give me a couple of minutes. I need to get Dr. Fuller on the horn and get him down here."
"I thought he was already scheduled to examine Noah."
Reid shook his head and smiled. "I didn't want Noah coming along on our business lunch."
"You're terrible," Luke teased.
"Me? You're the one ditching your half-blind ex, so that you can go make out with me in your car." Reid dialed the phone.
"Is that where we are going?" Luke asked, tugging at his left ear. "That doesn't sound like a very effective business meeting."
"Trust me, Mr. Snyder, it's going to be a very effective meeting." He smiled lewdly, but then put a finger up and turned his back to Luke. "Fuller! Hey, I need a favor..."
Luke smiled, realizing he didn't really mind Reid calling him "Mr. Snyder."