83 Milk and cookies
Word Soap: As The World Keeps Turning
Author: SYLnl
Title: #83 Milk and cookies
Rating: PG
Summary: “Let us always meet each other with a smile, for the smile is the beginning of love.” - Mother Teresa
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 #82
“Danny, this is my grandmother Emma.”
All Emma wanted to do was to hug the young boy and cry, but she didn’t. Luke had warned her over the phone about the bruising, so she just gave him the most loving smile she could produce. When she wanted to caress his cheek, the boy instinctively ducked away and she bit her lip.
“Hello, sweetie. It’s so nice to meet you,” she pointed at a kitchen chair. “Would you like a glass of milk? I just baked some cookies…”
She noticed how Danny looked at Luke for permission and her heart ran over when she saw her grandson giving the boy a loving smile.
“Danny isn’t used to eating much, so we’re taking it slow. Small amounts spread out over the day”, Luke explained and Emma nodded.
“I understand,” she smiled, putting the milk and a small plate with some cookies on the table, “Take your time with them. They’re yours.”
“Can I have one?” Luke teased and Danny rewarded him with a quick smile and a nod. He took a cookie and gave it to Luke.
“Thanks.”
The boy nodded again, already carefully biting off a small piece. He closed his eyes while chewing and Luke and Emma exchanged a moving smile. What was just a cookie to them, was a treasure to this child.
He was just finishing his last cookie, when the kitchen door opened and seeing the large figure in the doorway obviously startled Danny. It was painful to watch how he tried to make himself as small as possible.
“Danny, this is my father. Holden.”
The fear hadn’t gone unnoticed and Holden kept his distance, while smiling.
“Hey Danny, welcome to the farm.”
Apparently Danny was reassured by the friendly voice and Luke’s introduction, because he sat up more straight and even produced a small smile.
“Danny just had some milk and cookies. Would you like some too?” Emma rose to her feet and Holden grinned.
“Please, mama. Never to old for cookies, right boys?”
He sat down next to Luke, tapping softly on Luke’s back. He noticed Danny was watching him like a hawk.
“Good to see you, son.”
Luke smiled. “Same here, dad. Horses okay?”
Holden nodded, while eating his cookie. “Yeah, everything looks promising. We should have some beautiful foals, this spring.”
He looked at Danny. “Have you ever been around horses, Danny?”
The boy slowly shook his head, but there was a certain curious glance in his eyes that made Holden smile.
“Would you like to see them? If you go to the barn with me, I can show them to you…”
The fear was back in the young face and Luke calmed the boy down by putting his hand on Danny’s arm.
“I’ll come too. It’s okay. You’re safe.”
Luke felt a small sense of achievement when Danny looked at him and nodded. Apparently the boy started to trust Luke and that filled the older blond with hope. When he stood up, he extended his hand and when Danny accepted it, he couldn’t help but look at Emma. Do you see that?
And Emma did see it and understood the significance of it. She blew him a kiss.
With the boy’s small hand in his, Luke kept talking to his father while they made their way to the barn. He knew Danny was very observant and showing him he had nothing to fear of Holden would undoubtedly have more effect than telling him. Still, Danny stayed close to Luke, while keeping a close eye on Holden’s movements.
But that all changed when the boy stepped into the barn and saw the horses. He let go of Luke’s hand and stepped forward. In awe.
“They’re beautiful, aren’t they?” Luke softly said, standing behind him without touching the boy.
Danny nodded and looked up to Luke. “Can I touch?”
“Of course. Which one would you like to touch?”
The boy looked at the heads over the stable doors and turned to the one door that wasn’t showing any horse and pointed at it.
“Is it empty?”
“No. But Handsome is a little… cautious,” Luke softly said. Hearing his name made the horse curious enough to show himself and Danny let out a soft ‘Ohhhhh’.
Slowly the boy stepped forward, suddenly realizing what he was doing and stopping again.
“It’s okay. Handsome won’t hurt you.”
Holden’s voice was calm and without looking at him, Danny gave a small nod to confirm he’d heard. Slowly he moved up to the stable. He could feel the breath of the horse on his face, but he was hypnotized by the big eyes.
“Hey,” he softly said, not aware of Holden and Luke, watching him while standing shoulder to shoulder.
Cautiously he moved his hand to the horse’s head and Handsome wasn’t flinching. He just looked at the boy, as if he knew. And he probably did. When Danny’s fingers slowly caressed the brown neck, the horse rested his head on Danny’s hair.
“Oh my God,” Holden whispered. “I haven’t seen anything like this in my whole life.”
“I know…” As careful as possible Luke took out his phone, switched off the flash light - so boy and horse wouldn’t be startled - and took some pictures. They would never win an award - being too dark and not perfectly focused - but Luke knew he would treasure these images forever. And so would a certain doctor he knew. He touched some buttons and sent the best picture to Reid’s phone.
The reply came almost immediately.
- OMG. Tnx.
Luke smiled at the screen and when he saw Holden looking, he showed the text.
“I sent Reid a picture.”
“Thoughtful,” Holden nodded with an approving smile. “It must be hard for him.”
“It is,” Luke agreed. “And he’s especially busy this week. Several colleagues have some weeks off for the holidays, so they scheduled all the meetings this week.”
“Yeah, that’s bad timing. But hopefully it means he’ll have more time in the coming weeks.”
“From your lips to God’s ears,” Luke smiled, his eyes still on the young boy and the horse. “Let’s hope the citizens of Oakdale stay safe.”
“That’s a good wish,” Holden laughed, making Danny look up. His big brown eyes wandered from Holden to Luke and returned back to the horse, without any real facial expression.
“He has your eyes,” Holden whispered.
“Yeah, Reid noticed that too. He looks like me, but he behaves like Reid.”
“Sounds like a pretty perfect combination to me,” Holden concluded and Luke sent him a grateful smile.
“Thanks, dad.”
“Ehm… Luke?” the young voice sounded insecure, “Can I go in and give him a hug?”
“Sure…let me help you,” Luke walked to the stable door and let his hand rest on the latch. “No sudden movements, though. As I said…Handsome is a little cautious.”
“He’s been hurt, just like me.”
Brown eyes met brown eyes and Luke could only nod. He opened the door and Danny carefully moved to the horse. When Handsome snorted, the young boy giggled and spread his arms as wide as he could. Hugging as much horse as he could.
Luke didn’t approach him, not even when he heard Danny crying. He knew the power of horse energy first hand. Many of his own tears were shed on this shiny brown skin and he knew the boy had lots of suppressed tears that needed to come out. Luke didn’t even realize he was crying too, until Danny turned to him and stared at his face.
After a small moment of hesitation the boy stepped to Luke, leaned to him as he had leaned to the horse and cried some more. With Luke’s fingers slowly caressing his hair and Luke’s voice softly above his head. Repeating the words Reid had spoken last night.
“The hell is over, Danny. Let it all out. The hell is over.”
It took a while before the emotions died down and when Danny had stopped shaking, Luke softly tilted the boy’s head.
“I’m pretty sure Grandma Emma has some more food… shall we get some?”
The young boy nodded, turned to the horse again and softly kissed his nose.
“Bye Handsome,” he whispered and the horse snorted again, making them all laugh.
And that was the exact moment Reid was able to share. He gasped when he heard the young boy laughing and he didn’t move, trying to freeze the moment. He couldn’t. Of course he couldn’t. The laughter stopped, his two blondes stepped out of the stable and that’s when Luke noticed him.
His whole face started beaming, as he rushed to Reid and put his arms around his neck.
“You’re here!” Luke kissed him, “What happened?”
Reid squeezed Luke’s chin, glancing at Danny - looking a little lost and very insecure - and pointed at the boy.
“He happened,” Reid grinned. “The whole hospital was buzzing about this young guy who was brave enough to live with me…” he winked at Luke, “And this time they weren’t talking about you.”
Luke stepped away and Danny came a little closer.
“And then you sent that picture and I showed it at the meeting and I was basically dismissed. So here I am.” Reid crouched down and smiled at Danny.
“Hey sport, so you like horses too, huh?”
The boy gave him a shy smile.
“You too?”
Reid pulled a funny face. “Not yet. But Handsome is pretty cool.”
The boy’s smile broadened and his nod was more enthusiastic than Reid had seen yet.
“He is.”
“We were on our way to Emma to have some food,” Luke interfered smiling and Reid rolled his eyes, rising to his feet again.
“So…why are we still in this barn, then?” Reid ruffled Danny’s hair, “Come on, Foal. Let’s eat.”
“I’m not a foal,” Danny protested with a vague smile.
“You certainly smell like one,” Reid replied and again that beautiful sound filled the air. Until now he had loved Luke’s laughter the most, but this boy gave his lover a run for his money.