33 Playing the food card

Dec 15, 2011 12:20

Word Soap: As The World Keeps Turning
Author: SYLnl
Title:  #33 Playing the food card
Rating: PG
Summary:  Just a little snippet to set the stage
Big Thanks To: ltklo, for nurturing my nouns

He needed a housekeeper and he needed one fast. Luke sank to the couch and leaned back. They already had decided on hiring one, but of course they wanted the best - she would be in their home! - and he had no idea where to find someone like that.

“Okay Luke, focus,” He closed his eyes and opened them almost immediately. Of course! His grandmother had all kinds of servants… maybe she could recommend someone. He acted accordingly and made the connection.

Lucinda took it on herself to take over and Luke didn’t even mind. He knew his grandmother. He knew his grandmother very well. She would make sure they would have the best help available. And he was right. Just a few hours later he opened the door and greeted Mrs. Graves.
His initial politeness changed to informal within minutes and he enjoyed watching their home through her eyes and see the apparent approval on her face.

“This is a lovely house. It will be a pleasure to keep it clean for you,” Mrs. Graves gave him a sincere smile. “I understand you’re living here with Dr. Oliver?”

Luke gave her a nod and was surprised by her “That’s an extra bonus, then.” She noticed Luke’s puzzled look and laughed.

“Dr. Oliver saved my sister’s life, a few months ago. She had a brain tumor and had given up hope after seeing several surgeons who told her nothing could be done. But a neighbor had told her about a new doctor in town and Dr. Oliver underlined the complexity of her condition, but he did see some possibilities. And he managed to remove the tumor without any complications!” Mrs. Graves beamed. “I can’t wait to tell my sister I’m working for him…I mean…” she suddenly realized she ran ahead of things and blushed. “…I hope I will be.”

Luke laughed. “The job is yours, Mrs. Graves. I feel very fortunate my grandmother found you on such short notice.”

“My sister-in-law, Rose, is Mrs. Walsh’s cook and she knew I was looking for some work. My husband died a few months ago,” she lowered her head and accepted Luke’s condolences with a quick nod, “and I need something to do. So don’t hesitate to call on me when you also need a hand with groceries or cooking.”

Inside Luke cheered, outside he gave a radiant smile. “That’s comforting to know, Mrs. Graves, thank you. When could you start?”

“There is no time like the present,” Mrs. Graves smiled. “What would you like me to do?”

They went over the chores and Luke left her to it, so he could go into town to arrange a few more keys to the gate and their house, so Mrs. Graves could let herself in. She had smiled understandingly when Luke asked her to call first if there were cars in front of the house.

“Good idea. I don’t want to invade your privacy in any way.”

Luke still couldn’t believe their luck and let the new keys dance in his coat pocket, when he walked past Al’s and noticed Gwen having lunch with a very hot guy. He hurried in, wrapped himself around the neck of the curly-haired man and grinned at his visible glee.

“Hey you!” Reid’s eyes lit up, “I thought you had a meeting?”

Luke kissed Gwen on her hair and pulled up a chair.

“I did, but I canceled, because I wanted to welcome our new housekeeper.”

Reid’s hand, holding a sandwich, froze before his mouth.

“You found us a housekeeper?”

“Well, my grandmother Lucinda did. And you’re gonna love her, because she’s a big fan of yours. You saved her sister’s life, a few months ago.”

Reid smiled. “I’m glad.”

“So is Mrs. Graves, our housekeeper. Her sister-in-law is my grandmother’s cook, by the way.”

“Of course she is,” Reid chewed on this sandwich with a telling smile. “This wouldn’t be Oakhell if she wasn’t related to someone we know.”

They laughed and Luke shook his head when Reid offered to share his fries.

“I’m gonna order my own stuff,” he looked at Gwen and Reid, “do you still have some time to keep me company?”

“I’ll make time for that,” Reid said with a flirting tone and Gwen grinned. This was her first encounter with Luke and Reid together and she liked what she saw.

“What are you doing here, anyway?”

“Excuse me? You do know the kind of foods they serve in the hospital, right?” Reid rolled his eyes. “And Gwen arranged a new gadget for my office and they are working on that as we speak, so it seemed like a good excuse to leave the premises.”

“What kind of gadget?” Luke thanked the waiter and started eating.

Reid signaled to Gwen and she smiled and explained: “Reid found me an office across from his and I was looking for a way to see if he was available or not without having to walk over there all the time. I found a gadget that will be on his door. With a switch on his desk he can turn it to green and the sign on the door will say: welcome.” Gwen grinned at Reid, “I must admit that Reid wanted that changed into: go ask Gwen if I want to talk to you”, but that wasn’t an option.”

Luke almost choked on his hamburger and squeezed Reid’s hand, laughing.

Gwen waited for Luke to catch his breath and continued: “He can also switch it to red and the sign will say: ‘do not disturb’ and when he’s doing rounds or is in surgery he can put the orange sign on, that says ‘not in right now’. It’s pretty cool…”

“It is,” Reid agreed. “I’m looking forward to using the red button a lot…” he winked at Luke and they all laughed. Reid’s beeping pager put an end to their lunch, though.

“It’s an emergency,” Reid was already on his feet, kissed Luke firmly and stroked his hair. “I expect to be home at dinner. Are you?”

“I’ll make sure I will be. You go and save another life.”

Reid didn’t reply and made his way to the door, leaving Gwen and Luke smiling at each other.

“He is something else,” Gwen stated and tapped Luke’s hand. “It’s an absolute joy to watch you two together. I can’t wait to tell Will.”

Luke caressed her hand. “I knew it could be like this, because you and Will showed me. And for a long time I tried to create it with Noah, but now I’m starting to think you can’t create it. It’s there or it’s not.”

“I know what you mean,” Gwen nodded. “And it isn’t even about love, because I do think you and Noah were genuinely in love with each other. But you both had certain expectations. Some pre-arranged ideas on how it supposed to be. And that doesn’t have to be a problem, but I don’t think you discussed those expectations.”

“True,” Luke admitted. “And being in love for the first time pulled me right into the whole fairy tale illusion about being soul mates and happy endings and all that.”

Gwen chuckled. “I hear you. It’s very tempting to go there, but it isn’t a really strong foundation.”

“As I found out,” Luke grinned.

“You and Reid look solid, though.”

“Yeah, we are. It’s very weird, because our personalities are very different. But we have some important basics in common.”

“Mutual respect, humor and admiration,” Gwen summed up and smiled when she noticed the surprise in Luke’s eyes.

“It almost jumps at you, watching you both interact,” she explained. “Our Dr. Oliver is in absolute awe of you. It’s a beautiful sight to see, I can assure you. Especially because you so deserve it.”

Luke blushed. “I’m so happy you’re back in town, Gwen.” He kissed her cheek and stood up. “I need to cut this a little short, because I don’t want to keep Mrs. Graves waiting, but I’ll call you guys soon to set something up.”

“We’re looking forward to it,” Gwen assured him and smiled when she watched him leave. Even the way he walked had changed. He carried himself proudly, in a way. Gwen took a deep breath. It was good to be back.

***

Mrs. Graves proved to be the gem Luke expected she would be and after she left, their house was clean and dinner just needed some finishing touches.
When he handed the keys to the housekeeper and she noticed the key ring with a little silver dustpan and brush on it, she had kissed him on the cheek.

“Thank you for making me feel so welcome,” she managed not to cry, but Luke saw she was moved. After she left, Luke called his grandmother to thank her and Lucinda sounded very pleased with Luke’s enthusiasm.

“Did that gorgeous doctor of yours meet her too?”

“Not yet, but we ran into each other at Al’s, so he knows and he’s grateful for your help.”

“Ah,” Lucinda chuckled, “That’s always a good position to be in. Especially when I want to invite the two of you to a little party we’re having for Duke.”

“Duke’s in town?”

“He will be, later this evening.” Lucinda didn’t sound too thrilled and Luke smiled. He knew about their past troubles, but who knows… maybe they would get along this time around.

“So when is that party?”

“Tomorrow. To seduce your lover, I’ll even throw in dinner. Rose is all beaming and glowing, so I’m sure she’ll come up with something spectacular.”

Luke laughed. “It’s a good selling point,” he agreed. “As you know, Reid isn’t really into parties. I’m not even sure if he’s on call or not.”

“Yeah, I guess that’s the downside of loving a doctor. But I can count you in, right?”

“I’ll be there and I’ll let you know if Reid can join too,” Luke’s heart skipped a beat when he heard a male voice next to him say: “Join what?”
“You’re home!” Luke totally forget about his grandmother on the phone and Lucinda felt free to listen in and to enjoy the distinct sound of them kissing.

“Ah, thank you for noticing…at last,” Reid teased, “who’s on the phone?”

“Oh,” Luke chuckled and place the phone back to his ear, “sorry grandmother.”

Lucinda laughed out loud. “Don’t worry about it. It was great to eavesdrop. I never heard you answer his question, though.”

Question? Oh right. Join what?

“Grandmother is having a party to welcome Duke home and there will be lots and lots of good food.”

Reid gave a telling moan. “Playing the food card again, are we?”

Luke laughed and could hear his grandmother joining him.

“I’m meeting Duke tomorrow afternoon with John and Bob, so assuming that will be a good conversation, I’m willing to eat in his honor.”

Hearing Lucinda’s “Great’’ Luke smiled and after appointing a time, they disconnected and Reid dropped himself next to Luke on the couch for the kiss he had been looking forward to, the last few hours.

“Hmmmm,” with a content smile Reid sprawled. “This was a good day,” he saw Luke looking at him with that broad smile he loved so much and continued: “and it’s only getting better.”

Luke nestled in Reid’s arms and remembered Gwen’s words. “It’s an absolute joy to watch you two together.” It was an absolute joy to be together, too.

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

lure, word soap, fan fiction, !author|artist: sylnl, romance, atwt, drama, rating pg, luke/reid

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