Fic: Coming Home 45/?
Author: PABWECG (aka Patricia)
Title: Coming Home
Genre/Type: Romance
Rating: PG-13 to NC-17
Characters/Pairings: Luke/Reid, Luke/Noah, Lily/Holden, Casey, Katie, Bob, assorted little people, possibly others
Warnings: None really, except some Nuke intimacy
Summary: Luke and Noah moved to L.A. in the Summer of 2009 for Noah to do his last year of school with an internship of sorts (no Mason, no blindness, etc. Everything else in their history has happened). Reid arrived, temporarily, at Memorial in August 2010.
Thank you Slayerkitty for being my beta!!!
Previous Chapters: 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/
Chapter 45
“No, no, no.” Reid said, plunging the coffee mug into the sink full of rinse water and placing it in the dish drainer.
“Please,” Katie whined.
“Absolutely not.” Reid said, as he began to scrub the egg pan. When she continued to look at him pleadingly, he went on. “Katie, it was a week ago.”
“I know,” she said, throwing up her arms. “And you still won't tell me.”
“You need to get your own sex life.”
“True, but until then...” she raised her eyebrows hopefully. “Oh, come on. Give a girl a break; Henry said you guys couldn't keep your hands off each other, that you obviously couldn't wait for us to leave.”
“Well, we hadn't been together for a whole week.” He gave her a significant look. “What do you expect?”
“Hmmm.” She smiled, tucking the dishtowel under her arms. “Good, huh?” He tried to give nothing away. “Really good, huh?”
He shrugged.
“It's always really good with you two, isn't it?” She gave him a playful look. “I mean the sex; not that everything else isn't also good...but the sex?”
Reid thought for a half a moment and then nodded.
“I'm so jealous.” She said.
Reid nodded again, as if to say of course you are.
Then he thought some more and his hands stilled in the water. “It's never been this good,” he said. “I mean, I've been with lovers who were more skilled, but I've never wanted anyone as much as I do him. I want him in every way.” He thought back to a week ago, as Luke was thrusting into him for the first time - it had never been so easy, so natural, to let himself be taken, claimed.
“What are you thinking?” she asked.
“With Luke I'm...I'm different. I can be weak and strong; Sometimes he needs me to hold him, and I'm good at that.” His eyes seemed somewhere else. “But he...he's so young, but so strong in a way. And somehow I'm okay with having my defenses knocked down, with him there to hold me.” His brow furrowed. “Does that make any sense?”
She nodded. “Luke doesn't knock those defenses down. He lets you drop them.” Reid nodded, agreeing. “And you know he'll be there to catch you. You haven't experienced that with very many people, have you Reid?”
“No.” He exhaled. “My parents...Grandma...Stephen. But with all of them I still held back, still tried to be the strong one - especially with Stephen. But with Luke, I don't need to. I can be the one who needs. And sometimes, when I let myself be completely vulnerable with him, I find a strength inside myself that I didn't know existed.”
When he looked back at her, she was just watching him, like he was 'adorable' or something. “God, I can't believe I just said all that.”
“That's alright; I won’t tell.” And she put an arm around his back. “But something tells me that Luke may already know your secret. He's pretty smart when it comes to feelings and stuff.”
“That he is.” Reid smiled sincerely at her.
“That was the stupidest, dumb-ass movie we've ever seen.”
“You chose it,” Luke said, buttoning his coat as they left the theater.
“Why did you let me?”
Luke shrugged. “I just wanted to spend some time with you.”
“Awww.” Casey pinched his cheek. “That's so sweet.”
Luke laughed.
“Coffee?” Casey asked.
“Sure.”
As they walked to Java, Casey kept looking at him, as if he was studying him.
“What?” Luke asked.
“You.”
“What about me?”
“You seem happy...relaxed.” Casey said.
Luke nodded his head. “I am.” He looked at Casey. “Life is good.”
Casey smiled at him, nodding his head, tucking his scarf into his collar a bit.
“You didn't say, 'let me check'”
Luke looked at him for clarification, so Casey continued. “When I called and asked you to come to the movies, you didn't say, 'let me check with Reid' - you just said sure.”
Luke slowly nodded. “That's true.”
“You used to say that a lot.” Casey bobbed his head back and forth. “Let me check with Noah”
Luke thought for a bit. “Did I?”
Casey nodded and Luke hummed.
“Well, that's not surprising, I guess - considering our relationship. I never would have lived on my own when I was with Noah; it's like I jumped from my family to belonging to him.”
“How's it going - your new place?” Casey asked. “You moved in, what, a month ago?”
Luke nodded. “It's been good. I spent the first week alone and then - of course, you remember the party. Since then, Reid's been over once or twice a week and I've stayed with him occasionally.” He was quiet for a minute and then they placed their drink orders. “But I haven't felt the need to be with him every waking moment, you know? I've got my own things to do.” he looked over at Casey. “People to see.”
“I'm glad for you Luke - and for me; you're my best friend.
“Now who's getting all mushy?” Luke teased.
“I know.” Casey rolled his eyes. “Speaking of best friends.”
“Hmmm?' Luke said, sipping his coffee and taking a seat at a table in the corner.
“Stephen.”
“What about him?” Luke asked.
“He and Reid seem awfully close.”
“They are.”
“Did that bother you - when he was visiting?”
“At first.”
“And then?”
Luke took a sip of his coffee, remembering both their moments of intimacy and his own reactions to them; then also recalling Stephen's sincerity, both in his concerns for Reid's well-being and in his interactions with Luke.
“I think they would lay down their lives for each other.” Casey gave him a cautious look. “And I used to think that kind of thing should be reserved for one person.” Casey nodded, tempted to agree with the notion. “But, I'd lay down my life for you, Case...if it came down to that.”
“And I would for you,” Casey said, nodding again.
“And if I had children, even my own siblings...I'd do the same.”
“I see what you mean.” Casey said.
“My feelings about Reid and Stephen are complicated; a part of me wants Reid all to myself - and another part of me can't feel anything but grateful that he and Reid love each other so much. I love Reid so much that I want that for him.”
“And all this is easier now that the handsome doctor is back in Boston, eh?” Casey gave him a knowing look.
“I suppose.” Luke inclined his head. “But he's coming back. He and his boyfriend, Kyle.”
“Really?”
“Yup. Stephen accepted the position at Memorial once he and Kyle decided to make the move. Stephen's coming first, in a week and a half.”
“And you're okay with that? His ex coming to town, permanently? Working closely with him.”
“Yeah.” Luke nodded, thoughtfully. “I have moments of jealousy, but he's a good guy. I'm glad he's coming.”
“Hmmm.” Casey wasn't totally convinced. “I wonder what Reid would feel if Noah moved back to town and started working side by side with you.”
“Who knows?” Luke looked a bit horrified. “And fortunately for me that's not going to happen.”
Casey laughed.
“Besides, Noah and I were never close like Reid and Stephen are. He and I were never really friends. I gave him far too much, and he gave me far too little. Does that make any sense?”
“Unfortunately, yes.”
“It was like…I gave Noah my heart unconditionally, which sounds good on paper. I mean that’s what love’s supposed to be like, right?”
Casey nodded.
“But it’s not. Not really. You’re not supposed to give up yourself, and that’s what I did. So, that was my fault. And Noah, he took it. He allowed me to do that, and that was his fault.” There was a bounce in Luke’s step. He was so clear on all this now. “But then, he wasn’t really loving me; he was loving this ‘perfect’ version of me that I was always trying to be - and whenever I wasn’t able to be that, he’d take his love away; that’s what I mean by him giving far too little.”
“Wow,” Casey said. “You’ve thought about this a lot, haven’t you?”
“Yeah.” Luke said, getting up from the table.
Luke realized that it took the unconditional love of Reid for him to even recognize how conditional Noah's love had always been. Only when Luke was good enough, behaved well, made the right choices, did Noah stand by him.
“I used to think that Noah and I started out as friends, but now I realize we never were. We were never in an equal relationship, and friendship should be that - equal; like you and me, like Reid and Stephen.”
Casey nodded and they got up and walked out of Java, silently into the cold.
“Are you and Reid going to the Valentine's party at Metro?”
Luke shrugged. “Haven't thought that far ahead. Why? Last time I checked, you were single. Are you going?”
“It's only two weeks away, and yeah...I'm going.” Luke saw his friend blush. “And I'm still single...sort of.”
“Sort of?” Luke raised his eyebrows and nudged him with his elbow. “Come on. Who is it?”
“I met her in one of my law classes. Her name is Traci - she's smart, funny, beautiful; loves to travel - spent two years in Costa Rica, can you believe it? She takes gorgeous photos.”
Luke eyed him again.
“Thought maybe we could all go.” Casey suggested.
“I'll wrangle Reid into it.” He winked. “For you. Hey, I'm gonna head home. But we'll talk, okay?”
“Okay.” Casey nodded. “Hey, this was fun.”
“It was. Let's do it again...soon. But I get to choose the movie,” he teased.
“Hey! I didn't know.”
“That's what they all say.” He smiled and hugged Casey. “See you soon.”
Twenty minutes later he pulled into his driveway, noticing that the warm sun seemed to have melted the snow banks a bit. He turned off the engine and smiled, feeling so glad for the reconnection to Casey that had happened these last few months. How had he allowed himself to drift so far from his best friend? He sighed and got out of the car, heading towards his side porch door, when he spotted him. Noah, all bundled up, standing on his front door step, with something in his arms. He walked closer to the tall brunette, who seemed not to have heard him arrive. He footsteps crunched over the old snow on the walk and Noah turned around. It wasn't what was in his arms but who? The sight of his ex-boyfriend holding a baby was so disorienting, that Luke didn't recognize the little girl for a moment.
And then he did. Samantha.
Sammy.
“Noah.” Luke exhaled, his brow furrowing. Just when life was going great. “What's going on?”
next part/
Title: Coming Home
Genre/Type: Romance
Rating: PG-13 to NC-17
Characters/Pairings: Luke/Reid, Luke/Noah, Lily/Holden, Casey, Katie, Bob, assorted little people, possibly others
Warnings: None really, except some Nuke intimacy
Summary: Luke and Noah moved to L.A. in the Summer of 2009 for Noah to do his last year of school with an internship of sorts (no Mason, no blindness, etc. Everything else in their history has happened). Reid arrived, temporarily, at Memorial in August 2010.
Thank you Slayerkitty for being my beta!!!
Previous Chapters: 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/
Chapter 45
“No, no, no.” Reid said, plunging the coffee mug into the sink full of rinse water and placing it in the dish drainer.
“Please,” Katie whined.
“Absolutely not.” Reid said, as he began to scrub the egg pan. When she continued to look at him pleadingly, he went on. “Katie, it was a week ago.”
“I know,” she said, throwing up her arms. “And you still won't tell me.”
“You need to get your own sex life.”
“True, but until then...” she raised her eyebrows hopefully. “Oh, come on. Give a girl a break; Henry said you guys couldn't keep your hands off each other, that you obviously couldn't wait for us to leave.”
“Well, we hadn't been together for a whole week.” He gave her a significant look. “What do you expect?”
“Hmmm.” She smiled, tucking the dishtowel under her arms. “Good, huh?” He tried to give nothing away. “Really good, huh?”
He shrugged.
“It's always really good with you two, isn't it?” She gave him a playful look. “I mean the sex; not that everything else isn't also good...but the sex?”
Reid thought for a half a moment and then nodded.
“I'm so jealous.” She said.
Reid nodded again, as if to say of course you are.
Then he thought some more and his hands stilled in the water. “It's never been this good,” he said. “I mean, I've been with lovers who were more skilled, but I've never wanted anyone as much as I do him. I want him in every way.” He thought back to a week ago, as Luke was thrusting into him for the first time - it had never been so easy, so natural, to let himself be taken, claimed.
“What are you thinking?” she asked.
“With Luke I'm...I'm different. I can be weak and strong; Sometimes he needs me to hold him, and I'm good at that.” His eyes seemed somewhere else. “But he...he's so young, but so strong in a way. And somehow I'm okay with having my defenses knocked down, with him there to hold me.” His brow furrowed. “Does that make any sense?”
She nodded. “Luke doesn't knock those defenses down. He lets you drop them.” Reid nodded, agreeing. “And you know he'll be there to catch you. You haven't experienced that with very many people, have you Reid?”
“No.” He exhaled. “My parents...Grandma...Stephen. But with all of them I still held back, still tried to be the strong one - especially with Stephen. But with Luke, I don't need to. I can be the one who needs. And sometimes, when I let myself be completely vulnerable with him, I find a strength inside myself that I didn't know existed.”
When he looked back at her, she was just watching him, like he was 'adorable' or something. “God, I can't believe I just said all that.”
“That's alright; I won’t tell.” And she put an arm around his back. “But something tells me that Luke may already know your secret. He's pretty smart when it comes to feelings and stuff.”
“That he is.” Reid smiled sincerely at her.
“That was the stupidest, dumb-ass movie we've ever seen.”
“You chose it,” Luke said, buttoning his coat as they left the theater.
“Why did you let me?”
Luke shrugged. “I just wanted to spend some time with you.”
“Awww.” Casey pinched his cheek. “That's so sweet.”
Luke laughed.
“Coffee?” Casey asked.
“Sure.”
As they walked to Java, Casey kept looking at him, as if he was studying him.
“What?” Luke asked.
“You.”
“What about me?”
“You seem happy...relaxed.” Casey said.
Luke nodded his head. “I am.” He looked at Casey. “Life is good.”
Casey smiled at him, nodding his head, tucking his scarf into his collar a bit.
“You didn't say, 'let me check'”
Luke looked at him for clarification, so Casey continued. “When I called and asked you to come to the movies, you didn't say, 'let me check with Reid' - you just said sure.”
Luke slowly nodded. “That's true.”
“You used to say that a lot.” Casey bobbed his head back and forth. “Let me check with Noah”
Luke thought for a bit. “Did I?”
Casey nodded and Luke hummed.
“Well, that's not surprising, I guess - considering our relationship. I never would have lived on my own when I was with Noah; it's like I jumped from my family to belonging to him.”
“How's it going - your new place?” Casey asked. “You moved in, what, a month ago?”
Luke nodded. “It's been good. I spent the first week alone and then - of course, you remember the party. Since then, Reid's been over once or twice a week and I've stayed with him occasionally.” He was quiet for a minute and then they placed their drink orders. “But I haven't felt the need to be with him every waking moment, you know? I've got my own things to do.” he looked over at Casey. “People to see.”
“I'm glad for you Luke - and for me; you're my best friend.
“Now who's getting all mushy?” Luke teased.
“I know.” Casey rolled his eyes. “Speaking of best friends.”
“Hmmm?' Luke said, sipping his coffee and taking a seat at a table in the corner.
“Stephen.”
“What about him?” Luke asked.
“He and Reid seem awfully close.”
“They are.”
“Did that bother you - when he was visiting?”
“At first.”
“And then?”
Luke took a sip of his coffee, remembering both their moments of intimacy and his own reactions to them; then also recalling Stephen's sincerity, both in his concerns for Reid's well-being and in his interactions with Luke.
“I think they would lay down their lives for each other.” Casey gave him a cautious look. “And I used to think that kind of thing should be reserved for one person.” Casey nodded, tempted to agree with the notion. “But, I'd lay down my life for you, Case...if it came down to that.”
“And I would for you,” Casey said, nodding again.
“And if I had children, even my own siblings...I'd do the same.”
“I see what you mean.” Casey said.
“My feelings about Reid and Stephen are complicated; a part of me wants Reid all to myself - and another part of me can't feel anything but grateful that he and Reid love each other so much. I love Reid so much that I want that for him.”
“And all this is easier now that the handsome doctor is back in Boston, eh?” Casey gave him a knowing look.
“I suppose.” Luke inclined his head. “But he's coming back. He and his boyfriend, Kyle.”
“Really?”
“Yup. Stephen accepted the position at Memorial once he and Kyle decided to make the move. Stephen's coming first, in a week and a half.”
“And you're okay with that? His ex coming to town, permanently? Working closely with him.”
“Yeah.” Luke nodded, thoughtfully. “I have moments of jealousy, but he's a good guy. I'm glad he's coming.”
“Hmmm.” Casey wasn't totally convinced. “I wonder what Reid would feel if Noah moved back to town and started working side by side with you.”
“Who knows?” Luke looked a bit horrified. “And fortunately for me that's not going to happen.”
Casey laughed.
“Besides, Noah and I were never close like Reid and Stephen are. He and I were never really friends. I gave him far too much, and he gave me far too little. Does that make any sense?”
“Unfortunately, yes.”
“It was like…I gave Noah my heart unconditionally, which sounds good on paper. I mean that’s what love’s supposed to be like, right?”
Casey nodded.
“But it’s not. Not really. You’re not supposed to give up yourself, and that’s what I did. So, that was my fault. And Noah, he took it. He allowed me to do that, and that was his fault.” There was a bounce in Luke’s step. He was so clear on all this now. “But then, he wasn’t really loving me; he was loving this ‘perfect’ version of me that I was always trying to be - and whenever I wasn’t able to be that, he’d take his love away; that’s what I mean by him giving far too little.”
“Wow,” Casey said. “You’ve thought about this a lot, haven’t you?”
“Yeah.” Luke said, getting up from the table.
Luke realized that it took the unconditional love of Reid for him to even recognize how conditional Noah's love had always been. Only when Luke was good enough, behaved well, made the right choices, did Noah stand by him.
“I used to think that Noah and I started out as friends, but now I realize we never were. We were never in an equal relationship, and friendship should be that - equal; like you and me, like Reid and Stephen.”
Casey nodded and they got up and walked out of Java, silently into the cold.
“Are you and Reid going to the Valentine's party at Metro?”
Luke shrugged. “Haven't thought that far ahead. Why? Last time I checked, you were single. Are you going?”
“It's only two weeks away, and yeah...I'm going.” Luke saw his friend blush. “And I'm still single...sort of.”
“Sort of?” Luke raised his eyebrows and nudged him with his elbow. “Come on. Who is it?”
“I met her in one of my law classes. Her name is Traci - she's smart, funny, beautiful; loves to travel - spent two years in Costa Rica, can you believe it? She takes gorgeous photos.”
Luke eyed him again.
“Thought maybe we could all go.” Casey suggested.
“I'll wrangle Reid into it.” He winked. “For you. Hey, I'm gonna head home. But we'll talk, okay?”
“Okay.” Casey nodded. “Hey, this was fun.”
“It was. Let's do it again...soon. But I get to choose the movie,” he teased.
“Hey! I didn't know.”
“That's what they all say.” He smiled and hugged Casey. “See you soon.”
Twenty minutes later he pulled into his driveway, noticing that the warm sun seemed to have melted the snow banks a bit. He turned off the engine and smiled, feeling so glad for the reconnection to Casey that had happened these last few months. How had he allowed himself to drift so far from his best friend? He sighed and got out of the car, heading towards his side porch door, when he spotted him. Noah, all bundled up, standing on his front door step, with something in his arms. He walked closer to the tall brunette, who seemed not to have heard him arrive. He footsteps crunched over the old snow on the walk and Noah turned around. It wasn't what was in his arms but who? The sight of his ex-boyfriend holding a baby was so disorienting, that Luke didn't recognize the little girl for a moment.
And then he did. Samantha.
Sammy.
“Noah.” Luke exhaled, his brow furrowing. Just when life was going great. “What's going on?”
next part/