Somebody Should Be Kissing Those Lips -- Part 4
PART 1: http://dpracket.livejournal.com/50255.ht
PART 2: http://dpracket.livejournal.com/50611.ht
PART 3: http://dpracket.livejournal.com/50931.html
Three hours later, Reid entered Noah's room in the ICU.
Luke immediately stood, placing Noah's hand gently onto the bed. "I'll leave you alone," he said, walking toward the door.
"You can stay," Reid said, rolling his eyes.
Luke reluctantly walked back and stood at the foot of the bed as Reid examined Noah's bandages and drains and then shone a penlight into his eyes. He pressed the back of his fingers to Noah's cheek. "No fever. Good." He then gently squeezed Noah's shoulder. "I need you to wake up, buddy." He went to the foot of the bed, and Luke stepped quickly out of the way. Reid lifted the sheet and blanket and ran the back of his pen up Noah's foot from heel to toe while Luke watched him. There was no movement. He checked the compression massagers on Noah's calves and then replaced the covers.
"I'm sorry," Luke said quietly. "I was way out of line. I know you wouldn't deliberately harm a patient."
Reid nodded. "I'm sorry too. I should have kept my cool. I'm no stranger to distraught family members lashing out. It happens. It doesn't usually bother me, but I don't know...with you, it was......different. I should have handled it better...Diffused you, rather than pushing back."
"No, it was all me, Reid. You didn't deserve that."
"It's done. We're both sorry," Reid sighed. "Let's move on." He went back to the side of the bed and looked at the monitor next to the bed. "Noah's condition is stable."
"Is there anything I can do to help him?" Luke asked, hopefully.
"Talk to him. Touch him. We don't know what he can hear or perceive. It can't hurt to let him know that you're here." Reid let his hand trail from Noah's shoulder, down his arm, and then he gently wrapped it around his wrist. "His limbs aren't cold. That's good." He rubbed the top of Noah's wrist with his thumb. "There's someone out here who is anxious to see you, Noah," Reid said softly. "And those eyes of yours should be working, so why don't you try and wake up soon?"
He squeezed Noah's wrist gently and then turned to Luke. "I'll be back in the morning. The drains are working, so we'll do a scan and take a look. Hopefully, the swelling will be down substantially by morning. That will be a good sign. Don't expect him to wake up suddenly; it doesn't happen like in the movies." Luke watched as Reid turned back to Noah and rubbed Noah's arm as he spoke evenly. "There might be some movement first or the brief opening of his eyes and then nothing for a few more hours. At first he might be scared or agitated and not able to communicate. He probably won't recall why he's here until later. So, be prepared for that and just reassure him that he's okay."
Luke nodded, looking down at Noah. "You care about him."
"Of course I care about him. He's my patient." Against everything in his head that was screaming for him not to do it, Reid stepped close to Luke and put his hand on the back of his neck. "I care about you too, regardless of what I said earlier. You okay?"
Luke shook his head. "He has come out of this. I can't lose him."
Reid gently squeezed the back of Luke's neck and then thumbed away the tear sliding down his cheek. "I want him to come out of this too. We're going to fight for that."
Reid dropped his hand when all he really wanted to do was pull Luke to him and assure him that Noah would be okay in the end, but he couldn't do that. He knew it was better for friends and family to know the truth, no matter how uncertain the truth was.
He gave Luke a final glance and started to turn away, but Luke caught his arm. "Reid..." Reid's eyes went from Luke's hand on his arm, up to his eyes. He was still getting used to them using each other's first names. "I really am sorry....about earlier today...," Luke whispered.
Reid nodded. And then he did pull Luke into his arms, and if he was honest about it, he needed the hug as much as Luke did. "I know. Me too. No more apologizing. We're cool, okay?" Luke nodded against the side of Reid's neck, and Reid could feel the scratch of his evening stubble against his skin. He closed his eyes and enjoyed the closeness for a brief moment before pulling back and pressing a light kiss to Luke's lips.
Both men dropped their hands from each other, and Reid sighed at the undeniable pull between them. Luke nodded and gave him an understanding look.
****************************************
The next day, Reid found Luke asleep in the waiting room. He was stretched across the loveseat-style couch, his long legs dangling over the side, his jacket balled up under his head as a pillow, and his arms tucked around himself. "Luke," Reid said softly. No response. Reid looked around the room. There were two people in the room: a woman, looking down at her phone, and a man reading a magazine. He turned back to Luke and tentatively reached forward, using his fingers to comb back the hair that was falling in Luke's face. There was no response from Luke, so he did it again, more slowly, the pads of his fingers gently massaging Luke's scalp. "Luke...hey...wake up..." He then ran the back of his knuckles over Luke's cheek bone. "Luke..."
Luke startled awake, reflexively slapping Reid's hand away and rising to his feet too quickly, swaying to get is balance. Reid put a hand out to steady him. "What?" Luke said groggily, blinking sleep out of his eyes. "What's going on? Is Noah okay?"
"Rexax, Syder...yes, he's okay. We got the CT scan back, and there is decreased swelling. And he responded to pain stimuli this morning, so his condition is improving."
"That's great news...I have to go see him...I don't want him to wake up alone." Luke made to move around Reid.
"There were two people in there when I left."
"Who?"
"That guy who looks like him, and a young woman with brown hair."
"Oh..."
"Have you eaten today?" Reid asked.
Luke shook his head. "When was the last time I ate? Lunch yesterday, maybe?"
Reid brought his hand up to the side of Luke's face. "You need to take care of yourself. You won't be much good to Noah if you get run down." He rubbed Luke's sideburn with his thumb, and Luke leaned into his touch. Reid suddenly felt eyes upon him and looked up to see Lily, staring at them from outside the waiting room, her brow furrowed. He quickly dropped his hand away from Luke and took a step back. "Your mom's here. Maybe you can go down to the cafeteria together. I'll see you later." He gave a quick tug on Luke's fingers on his right hand and exited the opposite side of the waiting area.
****************************************
Less than 48 hours later, Reid was walking down the hall when Luke barrelled toward him and hugged him fiercely, right in front of a nurse's desk.
Reid pried him off and pushed him back. "C'mon...I have a reputation to uphold around here..."
"You're incredible!" Luke exclaimed, stepping back with a huge smile on his face.
Reid glanced over at three nurses who stood gap-mouthed. He scowled his best scowl. "Yeah. That's what I keep trying to tell everyone. I take it you've seen Noah."
"Yes! And he saw ME! Saw me, Reid! You did it. You restored his sight."
"Well, it's not 100%, but it should improve over time."
"You said you could do it, and you did," Luke continued to gush. "You're awesome. Awesome!" He moved to hug Reid again, but Reid put a hand on his chest to stop him.
"I'm glad you've seen the light," Reid said dryly, but he couldn't help smiling at Luke's enthusiasm.
"I've got to get back to him," Luke said, still beaming, "But I wanted to come find you and say thank you."
Reid nodded. "You're welcome. Just doing what they pay me to do."
"Will you come to his room later? My parents will be here in about 45 minutes to visit Noah. I know they'll want to see you and thank you personally as well."
Reid nodded and sighed. For all of his self boasting, people fawning over his obvious medical brilliance made him uncomfortable. "Sure. I've got some other patients to see, but I'll try to get over there."
"Good. Good," Luke said, "See you then." He turned and practically bounced down the hall. Reid watched him walk away, cocking his head and focusing in on Luke's ass until he rounded the corner. He then felt eyes on him and glanced over to find "Hot Rodney" looking at him with a smirk on his face. Rodney lifted his eyebrows, as if to say, "I saw that."
Reid ran his eyes over Rodney's upper body as he walked to the nurse's desk. "Hotrod, you sure you're not gay?"
"Positive," Rodney said, laughing.
"Shame," Reid teased.
Becca laughed.
"What are you laughing about, Beckham?" Reid asked.
"You're so full of shit," Becca said, smiling. "You're deflecting because we caught you checking out Luke Snyder."
"Get back to work," Reid said with faux gruffness, his eyes betraying him and showing his amusement. He winked at Becca and walked away.
****************************************
"You're jealous."
"No, I'm not," Reid growled in a low voice.
"Sorry, but I think you are," Luke challenged.
"I don't have time to be jealous, Mr. Snyder."
"Then why are you acting like such a jerk?"
"I am a jerk, remember?"
Luke placed his hand over the file that Reid was writing in. "Reid, look at me."
Reid pushed Luke's hand off the file and kept writing.
"Reid!"
Reid looked at Luke briefly, but then his eyes darted away. "Listen, Luke...I don't want to talk about this, okay? I'm working."
Luke thumbed Reid's chin and brought his eyes to his. "We're not together..."
"Yeah, I know we're not. We had ten minutes in my office three weeks ago. I get it. And I'm not sitting around pining away for you, so quit looking at me like you're breaking my fucking heart or something."
"I wasn't talking about us. I was talking about Noah and me. We're not together."
"You were kissing him, Luke."
"Yeah, I know. He kissed me. But we're not together."
"Yet."
"We're not going to get back together," Luke said softly. "It's not going to happen. I want more than he was willing to give."
"Does Noah know this?" Reid asked, flinging his pen down at the table. "Because he might be a little misled by all the hand holding and your tongue in his mouth. Listen, I get it. You have a history with him. You love him...yadda, yadda, yadda."
"My tongue stayed firmly in my own mouth. And, yes, I care about him a lot. But we're done." Luke stepped closer to Reid. "Ya know...you're kind of sexy when you're jealous," Luke teased.
"Fuck you, Snyder. I don't think you're cute or funny."
Luke smiled. "Yeah, but you want to kiss me."
Reid fought a grin because the truth was he did find Luke cute. And funny. And, god, he wanted to kiss him. Hard. "Not until you brush your teeth. I know where your mouth's been today."