Always Attract (Part 97)
A/N: A couple of notes: 1) There's only three chapters left after this one, so Chapter 100 will be its last and 2) I'm not sure how long it will take to get the next chapter out. It should be pretty straight forward so hopefully not too long. I am also going to be going back and cleaning the whole thing up simultaneously so that way when I post the last chapter, there will be a PDF that will be available of the whole story. That's obviously going to take a lot of time because, hello! Ninety-seven chapters thus far. We'll see how it goes though. *fingers crossed*. Okay, on to the story!
"He's using his legs a lot more. He's only about eight months and with his developmental issues, he's not anywhere close to walking, but he's getting stronger everyday. He's amazing."
"So when could we get him?"
"Oh." Luke sat across the couch from a young woman and her husband. "I didn't realize you wanted to move so quickly."
"No point in waiting," she shrugged. "Christmas is coming up. Presents to buy and all that."
Confusion took over Luke's face. He wasn't quite sure what that had to do with anything. Maybe they just wanted to get everything settled before the holiday. Looking around their living room things were a bit chaotic.
"I'm not sure how long the adoption process would take, but...."
"Oh no," she interrupted, "we don't want to adopt."
"I thought.....sorry, it had said you've fostered before, but I assumed you were interested in adopting this time."
The woman started to laugh as her husband , who had been eerily silent the entire time, looked like he'd rather be anywhere else. "Why would we want to do that? If we adopt, then they won't help."
"They?"
"The state."
"Right."
"So, we get more for him, right?" she asked eagerly.
"More for......sorry, what?"
"Well he's retarded, isn't he? They always give you more for taking the retarded kids."
*
Luke slammed the door as he barreled through the apartment. He went straight over to the playpen and swooped Prewitt up, kissing him all over his face.
"Whoa!" Reid exclaimed walking in from the kitchen. He tossed the dishrag over his shoulder as he made his way over to Luke. "What's going on?"
Luke looked up over Prewitt's shoulder and Reid noticed the red-rimmed eyes and dried tear tracks down his cheeks.
"Hey," he said softly, cupping Luke's face.
"You should've heard her Reid. The things she......" He shook his head and began to cry again.
"Okay, okay," Reid shushed. He reached out to take Prewitt from Luke's arms, the younger man reluctant to let him go. "I'm just going to put him in his room okay? Just for a nap."
Luke nodded and let Reid take the baby. He slumped down on the couch, burying his hands in his hair, not even noticing when Reid came back into the room. He felt arms wrap around him and pull him in to the comfort and safety of the familiar chest.
"What happened?" Reid asked quietly.
"Those people......"
"The Marcozas?"
Luke nodded. "You should've been there Reid. Their house was a mess, even the lawn, but I thought......"
"You were still giving them a chance."
"Maybe they had been really busy lately or sick...."
"You think the best of people Luke or are willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. That's just who you are. So what happened to make you come storming in here like that?"
"I thought.....thought things were going okay at first. I was telling them all about Prewitt and they seemed interested. Well, she did anyway. The guy acted like he didn't even see me, but then....." he hesitated.
"Then what?"
Luke took a deep breath. "They were never interested in adopting him. They just wanted money, a check every month," he teared up again. "You should've heard the things she was saying Reid. Vile, disgusting, horrible things. How can people be like that? The first moment she uttered the word retarded I wanted to leave, but I was frozen. I couldn't move and she just continued like it was perfectly normal. How are we supposed to trust people to take care of him when they're like that?"
Reid tightened his grip of Luke. "We would never, ever let people like that take him, okay?"
"Just the thought of someone hurting him...." Luke shook his head.
"Never going to happen."
"You don't know that."
"Of course I do. I know everything. Genius is never wrong, you should know this by now."
Luke huffed and Reid tried to hide his amusement as Luke attempted not to smile. "You're ridiculous."
"Shut it. You love it."
Luke sighed. He really did love it.....and Reid. That was another thing he'd been thinking about lately. He and Reid had been back together for many months now and they still hadn't exchanged those three little words. He knew Reid felt the same way or at least he thought he did. Their track record for confessing their love to each other wasn't all that great. It would usually end with nothing but heartache within twenty-four hours and that was definitely not something he wanted to see happen again. Although they were stronger now than they'd ever been. They were on even ground for the first time, they had no secrets and they both knew that there was no one that the other person wanted to be with more, so what was holding them back?
"How about if I go to the next interview?" Reid asked interrupting his thoughts. "You can stay here with Prew. Have a bonding day?"
"Everyday is a bonding day."
"That's true, but don't tell me you don't enjoy them."
"You know I do," he mumbled.
"So it's settled then. I've got the next one."
"Yeah, okay," Luke agreed. "You've got the next one."
*
Reid pulled up to the house after a long shift. Every muscle in his body ached and all he longed for was his bed and Luke's hands. Unfortunately for him though, he had told Luke that he would do the interview with the next potential family, which is why he was currently sitting outside a large two-story house posted on Strathmoor Way. 'What a ridiculous name for a street' he thought. 'Rich people'. And they were rich. That was something Reid could easily tell. Their house was big and well kept, at least from the outside. It was like something out of 'Leave it to Beaver'. He took a deep breath and steeled himself, finally opening the car door.
*
"So Dr. Oliver, how long have you and your partner been together?"
Reid smirked. "Hard to say actually. We have a long history."
"One of those relationships," Cynthia Peterson smiled. "Everyone has a history though. Some are just more colorful than others."
"And what's yours?" he asked pointing between Cynthia and her husband, Mark. "Ours not so colorful. We met in college. I was pledging a sorority and he was older and in our brother fraternity. We met at a mixer and from there......" she gestured with her hand in the air.
"The rest was history," Reid filled in.
"Yep." She smiled at her husband adoringly and Reid could see the love she still held for him after all these years.
"Dr. Oliver," Mark began, "I have to say when we were contacted by Mr. Snyder about Prewitt, I did some research. He's done some remarkable work with that foundation of his, especially given the fact that he started it so young."
"Yes, he has. We're all very proud of all that he's accomplished."
"So tell us more about Prewitt," Cynthia said excitedly. "We've read everything that Luke faxed us. He sounds like quite an amazing baby surviving everything he's been through."
"He is," Reid said with a soft smile. "And just to clarify, you are looking to adopt?"
"Yes," they replied in unison. "We have two kids of our own as I'm sure you already know. They're with their grandparents tonight, but we've always wanted to adopt as well. We just figured now that they're past their toddler years it was the right time."
"And how old are they?"
"Eight and five. Would you like to see some pictures?"
"Sure," he nodded.
*
Reid was pleasantly surprised by the Petersons. They seemed to be the picture perfect All-American family, but with the exception of his surgical skills, Reid knew there was no such thing as perfect. Still though, they were good people who had the means to take care of Prewitt, but more importantly actually wanted to. They seemed interested in the little boy and never referred to him as if he would be a handicap to their life. To his surprise, the couple had actually looked up cases and situations that weren't completely unlike Prewitt's. They were obviously invested and genuinely interested in taking care of the boy. Reid couldn't ask for more from a potential family, yet there was something that still wasn't sitting right with him; a heaviness in his chest that he couldn't quite explain.
He was over at the Peterson's for what seemed like ages and couldn't help the relief that overtook him when he finally reached his own door. His forehead lay against the cold surface as he took a minute to compose himself before unlocking it and stepping inside. When he finally did he was greeted by another sight that caused the heaviness in his chest to expand and get warmer.
"Hey," Luke said quietly. He was lounging on the couch with a sleeping Prewitt across his chest. "I've missed you."
Reid's hand gripped the doorknob tight as he tried to calm his racing heart.
"Reid, you okay?"
"Yeah," he hesitated. "Fine. Missed you too." He set his stuff down by the door and made his way over to the couch, careful not to wake Prewitt as he sat down.
"Give me just a minute to put him down okay and then you can tell me all about how it went tonight."
"Okay."
*
Reid listened to Luke over the baby monitor as he sprouted on nonsense to Prewitt as he readied him for bed. To his surprise, Luke even broke out some Justin as Prew's bedtime lullaby.
"I know, I know," Luke cooed over the monitor. "Not as good as your da-"
Reid's eyes snapped to the monitor as it suddenly went quiet. Only Luke's breaths and Prewitt's light sniffles could be heard coming through. It seemed like years until Luke's voice came across the monitor again.
'Sometimes I forget....that you're not ours. I know that you're not, but I love you so much, I can't help but wish sometimes. I love you Prewitt. Sweet dreams baby.'
Reid sat on the couch, pin straight and waited for Luke to return. It took him a couple of minutes to make it back to the living room, probably having to gather himself before facing Reid again.
When he did, he sat down and took Reid's hand. "So tell me how it went tonight. Did you like them?"
Reid opened his mouth and nervously licked his lips. After hesitating, Luke squeezed his hand.
"Reid?"
"Yeah," he said hoarsely. "Yeah, I like them."
"Oh. Well that's good," Luke replied looking down.
"I think......I don't think it's going to work for Prewitt and them though."
"Really?" Luke looked up surprised. "They seemed perfect....on paper."
"They're really nice, but.....I just don't think they can handle the kind of commitment Prewitt's going to need. They already have a couple of kids, both still pretty young and Mark travels a lot for his job and she seems to be involved in a lot. I just don't know if Prewitt is really going to be raised by them or a nanny of some sort if that makes sense."
"Yeah, it does," Luke said sadly. "I don't know what we're going to do. They were the best option we had right now. If you don't think we should....."
"We shouldn't. It wouldn't be what's best for him."
"Okay," Luke nodded his head in agreement. "Then we start looking wider."
"Yep."
"Well, I'm exhausted. Someone kept me going all day long."
"I am too. Why don't you go get ready for bed and I'm gonna go say goodnight to Prew."
"Okay." Luke leaned in and brushed a kiss against Reid's lips, scratching lightly at the older man's scalp as he moved away.
*
Luke finished brushing his teeth and crawled under the covers on his side of the bed. He reached up to turn the baby monitor on when he realized it wasn't there. Grunting in frustration he kicked the covers off and made his way into the living room. Picking up the monitor he headed back into the bedroom and set it on the night stand. He started to lie down when he heard Reid's voice speaking gently to Prewitt.
'I'm sorry. I know you need a home and the Peterson's would've been really good for you. I think you would've liked having older brothers too. They could've looked out for you when you were older. I'm sorry I took that away from you, I just....panicked. I'm not quite ready to give you up yet. Don't tell Luke okay?"
Luke closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He could hear Reid's foot steps getting closer to the bedroom door, so he reached up and grabbed the monitor, turning it off.
"You okay?" Reid asked as he stepped into the room. "Thought you would've been asleep by now."
"I just remembered the monitor. I went to grab it out of the living room." He reached forward and clicked it on, laying back down under the covers as he did so.
Reid stripped off his clothes and leaned across Luke to kiss his forehead. "G'night Luke."
"Goodnight Reid."
Luke watched as he disappeared into the bathroom to brush his teeth. Unfortunately for him, sleep that night never came.
"He's using his legs a lot more. He's only about eight months and with his developmental issues, he's not anywhere close to walking, but he's getting stronger everyday. He's amazing."
"So when could we get him?"
"Oh." Luke sat across the couch from a young woman and her husband. "I didn't realize you wanted to move so quickly."
"No point in waiting," she shrugged. "Christmas is coming up. Presents to buy and all that."
Confusion took over Luke's face. He wasn't quite sure what that had to do with anything. Maybe they just wanted to get everything settled before the holiday. Looking around their living room things were a bit chaotic.
"I'm not sure how long the adoption process would take, but...."
"Oh no," she interrupted, "we don't want to adopt."
"I thought.....sorry, it had said you've fostered before, but I assumed you were interested in adopting this time."
The woman started to laugh as her husband , who had been eerily silent the entire time, looked like he'd rather be anywhere else. "Why would we want to do that? If we adopt, then they won't help."
"They?"
"The state."
"Right."
"So, we get more for him, right?" she asked eagerly.
"More for......sorry, what?"
"Well he's retarded, isn't he? They always give you more for taking the retarded kids."
*
Luke slammed the door as he barreled through the apartment. He went straight over to the playpen and swooped Prewitt up, kissing him all over his face.
"Whoa!" Reid exclaimed walking in from the kitchen. He tossed the dishrag over his shoulder as he made his way over to Luke. "What's going on?"
Luke looked up over Prewitt's shoulder and Reid noticed the red-rimmed eyes and dried tear tracks down his cheeks.
"Hey," he said softly, cupping Luke's face.
"You should've heard her Reid. The things she......" He shook his head and began to cry again.
"Okay, okay," Reid shushed. He reached out to take Prewitt from Luke's arms, the younger man reluctant to let him go. "I'm just going to put him in his room okay? Just for a nap."
Luke nodded and let Reid take the baby. He slumped down on the couch, burying his hands in his hair, not even noticing when Reid came back into the room. He felt arms wrap around him and pull him in to the comfort and safety of the familiar chest.
"What happened?" Reid asked quietly.
"Those people......"
"The Marcozas?"
Luke nodded. "You should've been there Reid. Their house was a mess, even the lawn, but I thought......"
"You were still giving them a chance."
"Maybe they had been really busy lately or sick...."
"You think the best of people Luke or are willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. That's just who you are. So what happened to make you come storming in here like that?"
"I thought.....thought things were going okay at first. I was telling them all about Prewitt and they seemed interested. Well, she did anyway. The guy acted like he didn't even see me, but then....." he hesitated.
"Then what?"
Luke took a deep breath. "They were never interested in adopting him. They just wanted money, a check every month," he teared up again. "You should've heard the things she was saying Reid. Vile, disgusting, horrible things. How can people be like that? The first moment she uttered the word retarded I wanted to leave, but I was frozen. I couldn't move and she just continued like it was perfectly normal. How are we supposed to trust people to take care of him when they're like that?"
Reid tightened his grip of Luke. "We would never, ever let people like that take him, okay?"
"Just the thought of someone hurting him...." Luke shook his head.
"Never going to happen."
"You don't know that."
"Of course I do. I know everything. Genius is never wrong, you should know this by now."
Luke huffed and Reid tried to hide his amusement as Luke attempted not to smile. "You're ridiculous."
"Shut it. You love it."
Luke sighed. He really did love it.....and Reid. That was another thing he'd been thinking about lately. He and Reid had been back together for many months now and they still hadn't exchanged those three little words. He knew Reid felt the same way or at least he thought he did. Their track record for confessing their love to each other wasn't all that great. It would usually end with nothing but heartache within twenty-four hours and that was definitely not something he wanted to see happen again. Although they were stronger now than they'd ever been. They were on even ground for the first time, they had no secrets and they both knew that there was no one that the other person wanted to be with more, so what was holding them back?
"How about if I go to the next interview?" Reid asked interrupting his thoughts. "You can stay here with Prew. Have a bonding day?"
"Everyday is a bonding day."
"That's true, but don't tell me you don't enjoy them."
"You know I do," he mumbled.
"So it's settled then. I've got the next one."
"Yeah, okay," Luke agreed. "You've got the next one."
*
Reid pulled up to the house after a long shift. Every muscle in his body ached and all he longed for was his bed and Luke's hands. Unfortunately for him though, he had told Luke that he would do the interview with the next potential family, which is why he was currently sitting outside a large two-story house posted on Strathmoor Way. 'What a ridiculous name for a street' he thought. 'Rich people'. And they were rich. That was something Reid could easily tell. Their house was big and well kept, at least from the outside. It was like something out of 'Leave it to Beaver'. He took a deep breath and steeled himself, finally opening the car door.
*
"So Dr. Oliver, how long have you and your partner been together?"
Reid smirked. "Hard to say actually. We have a long history."
"One of those relationships," Cynthia Peterson smiled. "Everyone has a history though. Some are just more colorful than others."
"And what's yours?" he asked pointing between Cynthia and her husband, Mark. "Ours not so colorful. We met in college. I was pledging a sorority and he was older and in our brother fraternity. We met at a mixer and from there......" she gestured with her hand in the air.
"The rest was history," Reid filled in.
"Yep." She smiled at her husband adoringly and Reid could see the love she still held for him after all these years.
"Dr. Oliver," Mark began, "I have to say when we were contacted by Mr. Snyder about Prewitt, I did some research. He's done some remarkable work with that foundation of his, especially given the fact that he started it so young."
"Yes, he has. We're all very proud of all that he's accomplished."
"So tell us more about Prewitt," Cynthia said excitedly. "We've read everything that Luke faxed us. He sounds like quite an amazing baby surviving everything he's been through."
"He is," Reid said with a soft smile. "And just to clarify, you are looking to adopt?"
"Yes," they replied in unison. "We have two kids of our own as I'm sure you already know. They're with their grandparents tonight, but we've always wanted to adopt as well. We just figured now that they're past their toddler years it was the right time."
"And how old are they?"
"Eight and five. Would you like to see some pictures?"
"Sure," he nodded.
*
Reid was pleasantly surprised by the Petersons. They seemed to be the picture perfect All-American family, but with the exception of his surgical skills, Reid knew there was no such thing as perfect. Still though, they were good people who had the means to take care of Prewitt, but more importantly actually wanted to. They seemed interested in the little boy and never referred to him as if he would be a handicap to their life. To his surprise, the couple had actually looked up cases and situations that weren't completely unlike Prewitt's. They were obviously invested and genuinely interested in taking care of the boy. Reid couldn't ask for more from a potential family, yet there was something that still wasn't sitting right with him; a heaviness in his chest that he couldn't quite explain.
He was over at the Peterson's for what seemed like ages and couldn't help the relief that overtook him when he finally reached his own door. His forehead lay against the cold surface as he took a minute to compose himself before unlocking it and stepping inside. When he finally did he was greeted by another sight that caused the heaviness in his chest to expand and get warmer.
"Hey," Luke said quietly. He was lounging on the couch with a sleeping Prewitt across his chest. "I've missed you."
Reid's hand gripped the doorknob tight as he tried to calm his racing heart.
"Reid, you okay?"
"Yeah," he hesitated. "Fine. Missed you too." He set his stuff down by the door and made his way over to the couch, careful not to wake Prewitt as he sat down.
"Give me just a minute to put him down okay and then you can tell me all about how it went tonight."
"Okay."
*
Reid listened to Luke over the baby monitor as he sprouted on nonsense to Prewitt as he readied him for bed. To his surprise, Luke even broke out some Justin as Prew's bedtime lullaby.
"I know, I know," Luke cooed over the monitor. "Not as good as your da-"
Reid's eyes snapped to the monitor as it suddenly went quiet. Only Luke's breaths and Prewitt's light sniffles could be heard coming through. It seemed like years until Luke's voice came across the monitor again.
'Sometimes I forget....that you're not ours. I know that you're not, but I love you so much, I can't help but wish sometimes. I love you Prewitt. Sweet dreams baby.'
Reid sat on the couch, pin straight and waited for Luke to return. It took him a couple of minutes to make it back to the living room, probably having to gather himself before facing Reid again.
When he did, he sat down and took Reid's hand. "So tell me how it went tonight. Did you like them?"
Reid opened his mouth and nervously licked his lips. After hesitating, Luke squeezed his hand.
"Reid?"
"Yeah," he said hoarsely. "Yeah, I like them."
"Oh. Well that's good," Luke replied looking down.
"I think......I don't think it's going to work for Prewitt and them though."
"Really?" Luke looked up surprised. "They seemed perfect....on paper."
"They're really nice, but.....I just don't think they can handle the kind of commitment Prewitt's going to need. They already have a couple of kids, both still pretty young and Mark travels a lot for his job and she seems to be involved in a lot. I just don't know if Prewitt is really going to be raised by them or a nanny of some sort if that makes sense."
"Yeah, it does," Luke said sadly. "I don't know what we're going to do. They were the best option we had right now. If you don't think we should....."
"We shouldn't. It wouldn't be what's best for him."
"Okay," Luke nodded his head in agreement. "Then we start looking wider."
"Yep."
"Well, I'm exhausted. Someone kept me going all day long."
"I am too. Why don't you go get ready for bed and I'm gonna go say goodnight to Prew."
"Okay." Luke leaned in and brushed a kiss against Reid's lips, scratching lightly at the older man's scalp as he moved away.
*
Luke finished brushing his teeth and crawled under the covers on his side of the bed. He reached up to turn the baby monitor on when he realized it wasn't there. Grunting in frustration he kicked the covers off and made his way into the living room. Picking up the monitor he headed back into the bedroom and set it on the night stand. He started to lie down when he heard Reid's voice speaking gently to Prewitt.
'I'm sorry. I know you need a home and the Peterson's would've been really good for you. I think you would've liked having older brothers too. They could've looked out for you when you were older. I'm sorry I took that away from you, I just....panicked. I'm not quite ready to give you up yet. Don't tell Luke okay?"
Luke closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He could hear Reid's foot steps getting closer to the bedroom door, so he reached up and grabbed the monitor, turning it off.
"You okay?" Reid asked as he stepped into the room. "Thought you would've been asleep by now."
"I just remembered the monitor. I went to grab it out of the living room." He reached forward and clicked it on, laying back down under the covers as he did so.
Reid stripped off his clothes and leaned across Luke to kiss his forehead. "G'night Luke."
"Goodnight Reid."
Luke watched as he disappeared into the bathroom to brush his teeth. Unfortunately for him, sleep that night never came.