72 The Law of Relativity
Word Soap: As The World Keeps Turning
Author: SYLnl
Title: #72 The Law of Relativity
Rating: PG
Summary: “When you are courting a nice girl an hour seems like a second. When you sit on a red-hot cinder a second seems like an hour. That's relativity.” - Albert Einstein
Big Thanks To: ltklo, for brushing up my grammar
Previously on As The World Keeps Turning:
#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 #45 #46 #47 #48 #49 #50 #51 #52 #53 #54 #55 #56 #57 #58 #59 #60 #61 #62 #63 #64 #65 #66 #67 #68 #69 #70 #71
“Hey…am I disturbing?”
“Nope,” Reid leapt from his chair and pulled Luke in for a quick kiss, softly pushed the blond into a chair and sat on the edge of his desk. He had been worried. He’d tried to reach Luke for a few hours now, but - completely out of character - Luke hadn’t replied to any of the messages.
Reid’s concern decreased when he looked into the brown eyes he loved so much. They looked peaceful. He’d missed that look.
“Sorry for not getting back at you,” Luke started, “but I’ve been in a meeting for the last two hours and I turned off my phone. I wanted to tell you, but when I came here I ran into my mother and…” Luke shook his head and took a deep breath. “Anyway…” he gave Reid a smile, “You sounded worried and I’m sorry.”
Reid nodded. “What happened? I thought you were taking another day off today.”
“I was. I am. This morning I called Dr. Michaels’ office and she had some cancelations, so I had to rush to be here in time for the first session. And while I was there, another client cancelled, so we decided to extend the session another hour. So that’s where I’ve been.”
Reid’s face started to relax. “That sounds good. And you look good. So I guess it was a good talk?”
Luke chuckled. “It was all good,” he confirmed. “If I’d known it could be something like this, I would have done it a long time ago…”
“Meaning?”
“As you know, I was dreading the whole raking up the past thing, but it wasn’t anything like that. It was very powerful. Dr. Michaels gave me some important tools to help me understand how the past had infected me, but without really reliving it.”
Luke smiled, relieved, and he fondled Reid’s jeans. “And a lot of stuff I’d already heard from you.”
“I can make sense if I really try,” Reid grinned as Luke softly slapped Reid’s knee. “But please do tell… what brilliant remarks did Lynn steal from me?”
“Or you from her,” Luke smiled at Reid’s feigned indignation and continued, “but basically she advised me to focus on the character traits that make me stronger instead of focusing on the ones that make me weaker.”
Reid just nodded, without interrupting.
“And she also gave me some tools to practice that. Like keeping a Proud Diary.”
Reid raised a eyebrow. “Sounds intriguing. What’s that?”
“Every day I have to list at least three situations that happened that day, that made me proud of myself.”
Reid smiled. That sounded like the perfect exercise and when he told Luke, his blond beamed.
“I thought so too! I’m looking forward to it!”
Reid’s smile broadened. Luke’s fire was back. Getting some tools obviously gave him the leverage to deal with his current outburst of insecurity.
“And I already know three,” Luke looked radiant. “Because I’m very proud I made that call to Dr. Michaels, I’m very proud of being totally honest to myself and Dr. Michaels and I’m very proud I decided to see you in person, although I was concerned you would be angry with me for not responding to your messages.”
Reid reached down, grabbed Luke’s hands and pulled him up to his body.
“First of all, never feel afraid to see me, whatever is going on. Secondly, I wasn’t angry, I was worried.” He kissed Luke firmly and with a content sigh Luke pulled himself even closer.
The sound of someone clearing his throat made them look up, but they stayed close together. It made Bob smile.
“Sorry to interrupt,” he said friendly, “But Damian is ready to leave the hospital in half an hour and he wanted to speak to you, Reid.” Bob winked at Luke, “I think you will be an extra bonus…”
Both men nodded. “I was about to make my rounds anyway, so I’ll start with him,” Reid informed Bob. “How’s Chris doing?”
Bob’s smile grew wider. “Thank you for asking. He’s getting stronger. Two weeks ago he had that meeting with Matt’s mother and I really think it’s having an impact on him. She’s a special lady, I must say. She was so happy that you contacted her about Chris…I think she’s the president of your fan club.”
“Sorry, that position is already taken,” Luke chimed in and the three men laughed.
“I’m glad their talk went well,” Reid said to Bob, while making his way to the door, Luke’s hand in his.
“Yeah, me too. And they’ve talked on the phone too. I think they both fulfill a need in the other one’s life.”
“Win-win…doesn’t get any better than that,” Reid nodded.
“How about you, Luke. Feeling better?”
Luke smiled at the older doctor. “I’m getting there.”
“Good,” Bob slapped him on his back, “You’re the only one who can keep our Dr. Oliver in check, so we can’t have you lying in a hospital bed.”
While Luke and Bob laughed, Reid watched them with faked outrage.
“In check? Keeping me in check?”
“Check!” Luke’s finger drew a big V in the air and Reid snorted, while letting his hand go places where it shouldn’t go in public. With a smothered squeak Luke jumped away from him, all blushing, and Bob tried very hard to ignore the provocative look Reid sent to Luke. Knowing he caused this little Trip of the Ticklish, he couldn’t be the one correcting them. And he didn’t feel like correcting anyway. They were the only ones in the corridor.
In front of Damian’s room, Bob softly coughed. “Luke’s mother is inside too. You might wanna tone down your…playfulness.”
Luke and Reid looked at each other and simultaneously answered. “Neh!”
So the three men stepped in laughing and while Damian visibly enjoyed that scene, Lily was a little less enthusiastic. Of course she was.
“Hey guys,” Damian gave Lily a stern look and turned to the men, “Good to see you both. Luke, you’d got me worried. Are you okay?”
Luke nodded. “I’m fine. I hit a wall, but I found a door, so I went through it.”
“Beautiful metaphor,” Damian smiled lovingly, “And I’m glad to hear that. And to see that,” Damian reached for Luke’s hand and touched the golden ring. He gave Reid a approving nod.
“Well done, doctor.”
“I’m glad you approve,” Reid said calmly and Damian grinned.
“No surprise there, right?”
Reid shook his head and grinned too. “No, no surprise there. So, how are you feeling?”
“Ready to leave,” Damian stretched a little. “I’m grateful for the excellent care, but I won’t miss this hospital bed for a second.”
They all chuckled.
“And where’s your next bed gonna be?” Luke wondered and when Damian looked at Lily, Luke’s heart sank. Oh no, she didn’t.
Lily noticed Luke flinching and became defensive.
“We had a family meeting about it and the kids are fine with Damian staying with me.”
“I never knew you had ambitions to run a boarding house,” Luke sneered, not impressed. “How did Noah feel about Damian moving in?”
“You don’t know?” Lily looked genuinely surprised. “Noah is back in LA.”
The news made Luke frown. “He is? Since when?”
“Well, when Faith told me about Noah’s behavior towards the kids, I asked him to leave that same day and I let him stay at the Lakeview. But after that session we both had with Dr. Michaels, you know…that day we saw you at lunch… well, that evening he called me and said he wanted to go back to LA. So I arranged a plane ticket and the next day he left.”
Luke’s nod was calm and he gave Reid a quick smile.
“Good. I had a feeling that seeing the Look and Read room finally made him realize we are really over.”
“Well…that name doesn’t leave much room for misinterpretation,” Damian grinned. “It’s quite a statement.”
Reid gave him a quick smile, but didn’t answer. His focus was on Lily. He couldn’t read her. Apparently Luke couldn’t either, because his blond asked straightforward how she felt about Noah’s leaving.
She shrugged. “It was time,” she said and gave Luke a smile. “Dr. Michaels showed me my tendency to hold on to what I know, simply because I don’t want accept something didn’t work out as I had planned. And Noah was proof of that.”
“And so is Damian,” Luke let his tongue run away with him and his bit his lip when his mother looked startled. Damian saved the day by laughing out loud.
“You may have a point, Luciano,” he calmly agreed. “Because I have the same tendency. I’ve always had this gut feeling your mother and I could be great. And a couple of times we actually were great. Especially when we made you…” his grin was charming and a little wicked.
“So who knows…maybe we can finally figure that out.”
“Who knows,” Luke agreed. He knew Damian’s love for his mother could turn into an obsession overnight, so he did see a lot of drama on the horizon. But it wasn’t his drama.
“The kids will stay at the farm?”
Lily nodded. “Yes, they will be over from time to time, but Holden and I agreed that providing them with stability is the main priority right now. So they’re staying with Holden and Molly.”
“Did Abi leave with Noah?” Luke realized he hadn’t spoken to his sister in a long time and felt relief when his mother shook her head.
“No, she’s still on the farm. Apparently Noah had complained to Abi about her refusal to stand up for him in a certain argument and he had stated an ultimatum of some sort…”
“Ai…Abi doesn’t respond to ultimatums very well…” Luke snorted and Lily chuckled.
“That’s what Noah found out too. She told him she was glad that they had this opportunity to know each other better, because it made her realize how lucky you,” Lily gave Luke a nod, “are that Noah is out of your life. After that, Noah came running to me and told me the whole story. I guess it finally made me see what I had refused to look at all this time. You deserve better than someone like Noah.”
Reid had listened with his arms folded and tried not to smile. Okay, Lily didn’t say she considered Reid to be a good match for her son, but at least Noah was erased from her picture.
“Yes, I do.” Luke gave Reid a telling smile and instinctively Reid put his arm around the man’s waist and pulled him close, mirroring the smile.
Sometime during their conversation Bob had managed to leave the room without anyone noticing and now he stepped back in with some papers.
“Okay Damian, after you’ve signed these, you can go home.” Both men shook hands.
“Thanks for everything, Dr. Hughes. Especially the talks. Please know I treasure them.”
Bob smiled. “I’m glad. Try to stay out of jail, this time.” After a last wink, Bob left and when Reid checked his watch, Damian understood the hint.
“Reid, thanks again for your visits. They meant a lot to me and I will miss our chess games. I do realize you don’t feel comfortable to visit me at Lily’s, but maybe this will change someday. I hope it will.”
Again hands found each other in a firm shake.
“We’ll see,” Reid smiled. “A year ago I was very sure relationships weren’t my thing and look at me now…So everything is possible.”
“That’s a hopeful thought,” Damian nodded.
“Take care, D..amian,” Luke gave Damian a quick kiss on his forehead. “I’ll be in touch…”
“I hope so, son. I hope so.” Damian looked at Luke with a mixture of regret, love and pain and Reid felt for him. But his main concern was the young man next to him.
“I’m off to see your lawyer friend. Do you want to stroll along?”
Luke looked up and give Reid an understanding smile.
Thanks for saving me, he thought.
“I’d love too,” he said.
After saying goodbye to Lily, they stepped into the corridor and Luke stood still outside the door.
“Damian staying with my mom. What's the betting how long it will last without the drama flaring up?”
“I’ll give it a day,” Reid snorted. “Your family is so ready for their own soap opera.”
“It wouldn’t work,” Luke chuckled, “Viewers would say it’s all too unrealistic and over exaggerated.”
“When you’re right, you’re right, Snyder.” Reid gave a little pat on Luke’s backside. “It’s a miracle you turned out so normal.”
When Luke looked at him with a telling raising of the eyebrow, Reid couldn’t help but laugh.
“Let me rephrase that… so relatively normal.”
Both laughing, they made their way to the new wing.