When Darkness turns to Light
Chapter 13
The next several days were a blur. Luke constantly had visitors. All of his family came by to see him and he was happy to finally "see" them after so many months of darkness. Getting bored of lying in bed, on the third day he pushed the covers back and slowly stood up. Grabbing onto his IV pole, he shuffled his way over to the window. Never before had he been so happy to look out the window. The sun was shining in a bright-blue sky and he could tell from the way people were bundled up that is was probably below freezing outside. He sat down in the recliner by the window and watched the people go by. He grew sleepy as he enjoyed the view and soon found himself asleep in the chair.
Reid entered Luke's room and was startled to find the bed empty. He glanced quickly around the room until his eyes landed on a snoring Luke sitting in the recliner. He walked quietly over to the younger man and gently ran a finger down the blonde's face. Even without his hair he looked like an angel, a beautiful angel. He knew he should get Luke back into bed so he leaned down and gently shook his shoulder.
"Luke, wake up."
Slowly Luke opened his eyes, appearing a bit disoriented at first. But then he saw Reid and got a big smile on his face.
"Hey."
"You really should get back into bed."
After rubbing his eyes for a minute, Luke slowly got up and even though he didn't need it, he let Reid help him back to bed, enjoying the feeling of the older man's arm around his back. As Luke settled back into the bed, Reid pulled the blankets up to cover him.
"I must have fallen asleep while enjoying the view out the window."
"You call that a view?"
"Anything I can actually see is a view."
"Good point. Oh hey, I brought something with me."
Reid grabbed the bag he had set down when he came in and pulled a chess set out of it.
"I still owe you another match. What do you say? You ready to get beat by me again?" Reid said with a smirk as he put the set on Luke's table.
"Bring it on. At least this time I'll be able to see you beat me," Luke said with a laugh.
Reid set up the board and the two men played in silence. It didn't take long before Reid called out,
"Checkmate!"
"Seriously? Why do I even bother?"
"Because you have nothing better to do?"
"I guess. Play again?" Luke asked with a laugh.
The men played match after match with Reid winning every one. It seemed like each match ended faster than the last. Luke was about to set the board up for yet another match when the nurse came in with his dinner.
Reid moved the board out of the way while the nurse set the tray down on the table.
"Is there anything more unappealing than hospital food?" Luke asked as he looked down at his dinner. "What I wouldn't give for a cheeseburger or chili and cornbread from Al's." Picking up his fork he started poking at his food.
"While you eat I think I'll take care of some paperwork in my office. I'll come back and check on you before I leave."
"Okay. Thanks for hanging out with me."
After Reid left, Luke picked at his food, only eating about half of it before pushing the table away from the bed. Looking through the stuff his family had brought to help him pass the time, Luke noticed the journal he had been using before he lost his sight. Picking it up he read through a handful of the entries. Pretty soon he'd had enough. The entries all had the same kind of theme- Noah being disappointed in him. Noah not thinking he was good enough. Luke being frustrated with Noah. Looking back through the entries Luke realized that there weren’t a lot of happy times recently in his relationship with Noah. He hadn't realized it at the time but even before he'd lost his sight he and Noah had been having problems. After reading through some more of his journal he felt more confident that it had been the right decision to end things with Noah.
He hadn't seen Noah since the hotel in Chicago yet he didn't miss him. Honestly he hadn't really thought about him a lot in the last few weeks. Reid on the other hand had been gone for less than an hour and already he missed his unique personality, quirky smile and amazing blue eyes. He couldn't get enough of those eyes. He had enjoyed getting to know Reid over the past months. They had just hung out and there had been no pressure. He felt like he could be himself around Reid. He didn't have to try and be somebody else just to make Reid happy. Reid accepted him just the way he was, flaws and all. He wasn't sure where things were headed with Reid, after all the man was still his doctor and he wasn't even sure that the man felt the same way about him that he felt but he couldn't help but hope that just maybe once he was no longer Reid's patient that they could start something.
Setting his journal down, Luke flipped on the TV, hoping for some kind of distraction. He was changing channels when he came across game 7 of the World Series. It had taken this long to replay it. It looked like the game was just getting underway. He was watching player introductions when there was a soft knock on the door and then Reid's face came in to view.
"Hey, how was dinner?"
"I managed to eat about half of it."
"Well, I guess it's a good thing I brought you this then," Reid said as he produced a bag from behind his back.
"Oh my gosh that smells delicious. Is it from Al's?" Luke asked excitedly.
"That it is. We've got a cheeseburger, fries and a small vanilla milkshake for you and a large double order of chili and cornbread for me."
“Sit and eat with me. Game 7 of the World Series is just starting."
"Seriously? They haven't played game 7 yet? That is crazy."
Reid pulled the chair over near the bed, so they could share the table or so he claimed, and the two men enjoyed their dinner while cheering on their teams. With the score tied 6-6 in the 15th inning, Reid realized that Luke had been awfully quite for awhile. Looking over he noticed the blond was fast asleep. Reid turned down the sound on the TV and dimmed the lights in the room before sitting back down in his chair. He couldn’t help but reach out and gently run his fingers down the side of Luke’s face. As he did so Luke unconsciously nuzzled against the hand. Reid held his hand against Luke’s cheek for a second before finally pulling away. When he did so Luke got a scowl on his face and murmured in his sleep,
“Reid?”
Reid wasn’t sure what do but finally reached out and picked up Luke’s hand and interlaced their fingers.
“I’m right here Luke.”
Immediately the scowl disappeared from Luke’s face and he could see the man relax. Lifting their interlocked hands, Reid placed a gentle kiss on Luke’s before replacing them on the bed. After what seemed like an eternity, Reid turned back to the game. It was now the 16th inning and the game was still tied. He continued to watch, his eyes growing heavy as he did so. Soon Reid was snoring, his hand still firmly holding Luke’s.
Chapter 14: http://mickey9928.livejournal.com/6894.html