82 Safe haven
Word Soap: As The World Keeps Turning
Author: SYLnl
Title: #82 Safe haven
Rating: PG
Summary: “Live so that when your children think of fairness and integrity, they think of you.” - H. Jackson Brown
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 #72 #73 #74 #75 #76 #77 #78 #79 #80 #81
The fire was softly crackling and apart from Luke’s typing, it was completely silent. At first glance nothing unusual. Two men on the couch, their legs entwined. The young blond with a laptop, the older curly one with some documents. A familiar scene. But with one huge difference. In the room above their heads was a young boy sound asleep.
Luke smiled at the incoming emails. He’d sent out a mail, informing friends and family about the newest addition to their family, and the support was overwhelming. The last hour he had been busy replying to them.
“It’s safe to say that Danny’s picture is hitting some nerves,” Luke informed Reid and the man looked up, smiling.
“I’m not surprised. His abusive past is all over him.”
Luke nodded, looking at the image again. The boy was all bones, his eyes were big and sad. But the victory was in the mouth. There was a small smile there. Unconsciously Luke smiled back at the picture.
When he looked up, he saw Reid watching him with a little mysterious grin.
“What?”
“You’re already in love with him,” Reid concluded softly and Luke didn’t hesitate.
“I am,” he agreed, “and so are you.”
Reid nodded. He was.
“I know we did the right thing here,” he said, while caressing Luke’s leg with his foot, “but this won’t be easy. He’s so damaged. It scares me.”
Luke squeezed Reid’s toes. “Me too. But whatever mistakes we’ll make, at least he will be loved for a change.”
“Yeah, that’s already a big step up,” Reid shook his head, lost in the memories of earlier that evening.
Dr. Rainsby had given some ointment for the bruising and Reid remembered vividly how scared Danny was when Reid had asked him to remove his shirt so he could put it on the boy’s back. Reid hadn’t addressed it, but after applying the ointment and handing Danny his pajama top, he had seen the relief.
“You’re safe now, Danny,” Reid had assured him with a calm voice and Danny had given him a shy smile. The doctor had showed the boy the bathroom and had left the pajama bottoms on the chair.
“You change in here and feel free to lock the door if you need to.”
Reid had stepped out of the bathroom, filled with frustration and anger. There was no doubt about this. Neglect and physical abuse wasn’t the whole story. He could kill whoever had sexually violated this kid. His kid.
When Danny had entered the bedroom he had picked up on the anger. He had watched Reid with caution and had kept his distance. Until Reid had noticed Danny’s fear and had smiled.
“I’m not angry at you. I’m just angry at the person who hurt you so much,” he had said and Danny had lowered his head.
“Persons.”
Reid had been grateful Luke joined them at that moment. He had been lost for words. With a blissful sigh Danny had covered himself with the blankets. Laying on his side, so the weight of the covers wouldn’t hurt him, he had looked up at the two men and the whispered “Thank you” had touched them both deeply. Within minutes, Danny had fallen asleep and many minutes after that, Luke and Reid had stood there by his bed. Watching him sleep, with their arms around their waists.
Yes, he definitely had fallen in love with the boy.
He stepped out of his memories when he heard Luke chuckle.
“Lucinda is on the warpath,” he shared and Reid grinned.
“Of course she is.”
“She wanted to know if the foster parents are already arrested, so I wrote her that we had discussed it with Danny and that he didn’t want us to do that and now she’s ready to take justice into her own hands.”
“I know the feeling,” Reid admitted, thinking of his own murderous thoughts a few hours ago.
“Not helping,” Luke said teasing and Reid smiled.
“Just being honest,” he said on the same melodious tone.
Luke blew him a kiss and mailed his grandmother that he understood her sentiments, but that Child Services had informed them that the so-called caretakers had moved out in a hurry and had disappeared. ‘And we hope they will stay away,’ Luke wrote, ‘so please don’t track them down.’
“We still have to decide if we keep him in the same school he’s in now,” Reid reminded Luke and the blond nodded.
“I know. But we have permission to keep him home for the rest of the week, so we have some time to figure that out. I’m more than happy to hire a teacher, so he can stay at home, but I don’t want to deprive him of having friends and interacting.”
Reid nodded. “My schedule is pretty crazy, the next couple of days. I’m afraid you’ll be on your own a lot.”
Luke smiled. “That’s okay. I’ll just delegate some more, it’s as simple as that. We’ll just have to find a new balance.”
“Yeah, we’ll work something out,” Reid glanced at his watch. “But not tonight. I need my beauty sleep. Are you ready to join me?”
Luke gave him a quick nod. “I am. The mails keep coming in, so I could keep myself very busy for a few hours, but I won’t.” He smiled at his screen, “Faith writes on behalf of Ethan that Danny can have his train set.”
“Ah…and he loves that train,” Reid smiled, “so that’s a very sweet offer.”
“Yeah,” Luke looked proud. His little brother sure knew how to give.
“Although Danny isn’t exactly without toys of his own, after your little shopping spree.”
They both chuckled.
“I guess I went a little overboard,” Luke admitted, smiling at Reid’s foot that stroked his leg.
“Maybe. But I love you for it. That look on Danny’s face was priceless.”
“Yes, it sure was. Did you see how he clung to that stuffed panda?”
Reid laughed. “Yeah, that was love at first sight,” he agreed. “You did very well. The books, the toys, the new clothes, the pajamas… I wouldn’t have known where to start.”
Luke beamed. “That’s the advantage of growing up with younger siblings. I guessed his size and a lot is way too big, but I hope he will grow into them soon.”
“He will,” Reid’s confidence had grown by the hour. “I know we can do this.”
“Me too,” Luke squeezed Reid’s toes again and let his foot wander over Reid’s zipper. “And there’s something else we do very well…”
Reid’s grin was telling. “I think I can manage a two,” he confided.
“A two sounds perfect,” Luke nodded and already tugging on clothes, they made their way to the bedroom.
“Noooooooooooooooooooooo!”
The loud cry made Luke and Reid sit up at the same time. Reid yawned and checked his phone. 4.14.
“Do you want me to go?” Luke was already out of bed, but Reid shook his head.
“Let’s both go,” he said, stepping into his lounge trousers. They rushed upstairs and found Danny in sweat and tears. Clearly right in the middle of a terrible nightmare.
Both men cringed when the boy screamed again and Luke sat down on the bed and started talking to Danny without touching him.
“You’re safe, Danny. Wake up. It’s just a dream.”
The boy was swaying his arms in some sort of battle and almost hit Luke’s face, but the blond man didn’t move away. He kept talking to the boy on a soft and loving tone. Slowly Danny calmed down and started waking up. When he opened his eyes, they were filled with panic and pain.
“Nooooooooooooooooooooooooo.”
This time the cry was soft and Luke touched Danny’s arm.
“You’re safe, Danny. We’re here. Nobody can hurt you anymore.”
For a minute the boy looked at him with deep mistrust, but gave in to the loving smile and started crying. It was heart-rending, to say the least. Reid sat down too, with one hand around Luke’s waist and the other on Danny’s leg.
“It’s okay. Let it out. The hell is over, Danny.”
“Can’t…believe…it,” the boy sobbed out.
“We know,” Luke assured him. “That’s okay.” He saw the panda on the floor and gave it to Danny. The boy showed his age by pressing the cuddly toy to his chest, still crying.
“Can I get you some water?” Reid’s voice was low and calm and Danny responded to it. He calmed down and nodded, looking shy.
Reid was happy he could do something constructive. He felt so helpless. He smiled when he heard Luke soothing the boy.
“Try to sleep some more, sweetie. And you’ve seen our bedroom, right? You come and get me if there’s something wrong, okay?”
“Or just scream,” Reid smiled, handing over the glass. “Screaming will get us here, too.”
After sipping the water, Danny put the glass on his nightstand and hugged his panda.
“I think I can sleep now.”
“Good,” with great care Luke pulled the covers over the young boy and touched his hair for a moment. “I hope they will be sweet dreams, this time.”
The boy gave a small smile.
“Me too.”
After a deep and trembling sigh, the boy closed his eyes and Luke turned to Reid. His face was telling and Reid pinched Luke’s chin.
“Come, let’s go back to bed. You can cry on my shoulder,” he softly promised and while the men left the bedroom, the child opened his eyes a little, watching them leave. He caressed his toy and smiled. Somewhere in a small corner of his heart, hope started to flicker.