amelialourdes | fic: A Beautiful Mess, 10/22

Fic: A Beautiful Mess, 10/22
Summary: Luke is a pediatrician! He is officially Dr. Luke Snyder.
Spoilers: References to Luke's past from canon and that's about it.
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: Wish they were mine but they're not.
Note: This was inspired by this entry in lure_prompts by the brill _alicesprings. Feedback, concrit, etc. welcome! ♥

And we're back! Completely flooded with some great fic and videos in noah_who. I also participated in qaf_giftxchnge for anyone's in that fandom. I'll be posting those links soon! I have to catch up with everything this weekend too, ha. Way behind. I know you guys have a lot of fic to choose from so just glad to anyone who's still reading! I really appreciate it. On with it. Next chapter to be posted tomorrow.

"Reid."

Reid is still asleep but begins to wake slowly when he feels a hand on his shoulder.

"Reid?"

He begins to open his eyes, squinting at the bright light that suddenly invades. Blinking a few times, he turns to see Luke, and to feel him sitting at the edge of the bed. He sees him still wearing his lab coat and very much awake.

"Luke? What ... what's wrong?"

"I would've paged you but I took my Grandma's car to the hospital. It was the only car left so I came back to get you."

Reid tries to wake up a little more and takes in a deep breath. Luke's hand moves over his bare shoulder and chest before he pulls his fingers back suddenly.

"Wait, get me for what?" Reid asks, glancing at the time and seeing that it's a little after one in the morning.

"I need you for a consult. It's the patient that I've been attending to. I see something on the x-ray and I need you to take a look at it."

"What do you see on it?" Reid asks, already moving out of bed to put his clothes back on.

"There's ... there's um," Luke looks down at his hands and takes in a deep breath.

Reid's pulling his pants back on and reaches for his shirt. He pauses before he pulls it on, looking at Luke. "It's all right. We'll take a look at it." He buttons his shirt and then stands so he can finish dressing.

"It looks like a mass. I can't be sure."

"Can't you see it on the x-ray?"

"He's showing some symptoms but I need you to take a look at him."

"All right, let's go." He slips on his shoes, takes his coat, and he follows Luke downstairs and out the door. They drive to the hospital in silence but Reid occasionally looks over at Luke. This really isn't the sort of thing that Luke deals with. He's accommodating to all of his patients and concerned about their well-being but he isn't involved in any pediatric specialty.

When they arrive at the hospital, they get out of the car, and Luke keeps his hands in his lab coat pockets. "Um, I'll let them know that you're coming. You can get your things out of your locker first."

"Okay. What's the room number?"

"311 B."

"I'll be right there."

The mood's changed between them entirely, completely professional now. But, Luke has every right to be occupied and concerned if the situation is grave.

Reid goes to his locker, putting on his lab coat, getting his stethoscope, and anything that he may need for a general check-up. After preparing himself, he walks the dim hallways to find the room.

When he arrives, Luke's standing next to the bed, and a woman sits in the chair, holding the hand of her young son. "Dr. Oliver, this is Mrs. Hilts," Luke introduces him to the woman. He nods toward her but keeps his eyes on the bed.

The boy looks at him and he looks back. He breaks their gaze and immediately takes the boy's chart, glancing at the name on the chart: Matthew.

"Hi Matt," he says to the boy. "How are ya feeling?"

"Sleepy," the boy smiles at him.

"Yeah, it's probably like way past your bedtime." He places the chart back and moves in close to the bed. When he takes out his pen light, flashing it in the boy's eyes, he can see that there isn't much of a response, pupils remain almost the same. "Can you see the light, Matthew?"

"A little."

"He's been having trouble with his vision," the mother says in a panicked voice.

"Well, freaking out about it doesn't help. He can see. That's something. What does my finger look like, Matthew?" he holds it up in front of him.

"Uh, there are two fingers?"

"Does anything hurt?"

"My back," he speaks, the exhaustion evident in his voice.

"All right, well, I'm gonna take a look at the x-rays Dr. Snyder took earlier. We'll be right back. Get some rest until we're back," he tells him. Matt nods and settles back into the pillow.

Luke walks with him into the next room, closing the door behind him. Then he grabs a folder, opening it and turning on the backlight for the viewer. He fixes the x-rays to the viewer so that they're able to clearly see it.

Reid takes one look at it and finds the same thing that Luke told him he saw earlier.

"It's right there in the cerebellum," Reid points to it.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, it's a classic case. Practically textbook."

Luke sighs and leans back against the table as he looks at the next x-ray. "Should I have seen this? Should I have known about this? He had these symptoms but I just didn't think that it was ... it seemed like he ..."

"Hey, if the symptoms were mild, it wouldn't have been noticeable without the MRI. You caught it now and that's what matters. You also have the help of the most brilliant neurosurgeon on the planet."

"Reid, don't joke."

"Who's joking? There's a reason that I have a reputation, Luke. It isn't just because I got my diploma out of a box of cracker jacks."

"I'm sorry," he apologizes. "I'm ... I've never done this before."

"Never done what before?"

"Made a diagnosis like this for one of my patients. They prepare you for it but I never ... I've never encountered it. I know that this is completely unprofessional and I don't want to go back in there feeling this vulnerable. The only reason that I'm saying this now is because it's late and I'm really tired and I feel like I'm here talking to my boyfriend and not just my colleague."

"And I want you to tell me these things," Reid catches his gaze to make sure that he's aware of that. "But, you're right. You can't be the one to break apart in there. This is about them and what they're going through. We do what we have to do as their doctors."

"I don't know how you can make that disconnect."

"I have to," he responds before turning to look back at the x-rays. "I'll keep these for now. Come on, let's deliver the news."

After turning off the lights, they leave the private room, and walk back into see the patient.

Reid is the one who delivers the news to both the mother and Matthew. Matthew's reaction is minimal. But, that's to be expected. It's late at night, Matthew's already exhibiting symptoms of weariness, and the gravity of the situation is probably too big to comprehend.

The mother, on the other hand, is reacting enough for the both of them. She begins to cry, asking a million questions that Reid can't possibly answer, and asking questions that aren't meant for Reid, questions that Reid's heard one too many times that he'll never be able to explain.

Reid doesn't know how to handle those type of responses. All he can tell her is that there's no reason to enter into the grieving period already. Her son's very much alive and that's what they need to remember. Reid's determined to keep it this way.

Luke's the one who has the sympathetic words and tries to reassure her. When he tells them to get some rest, they both leave the room, and walk out into the hallway.

"She shouldn't be coddled," Reid says with some distaste, hands in his pockets as he walks back toward the lockers.

"She deserves to hear some kind words, Reid. I can't just drop the bomb like that and walk away like you apparently can."

"I do it because I have to. They need to be strong enough to fight this and the truth is, we don't know whether or not he's going to pull through."

"Nobody needs to hear that when they're going through something like this."

"That kid is going to make it. He is going to be fine. Anything less than that? It's inconceivable to me." Luke's gaze flickers, an unreadable expression on his face. Eventually, he moves a step closer, closes his eyes, and gently presses his forehead to Reid's. Reid's arms come up, settling on Luke's upper arms, and beginning to move them up and down slowly to comfort him. "You've gotta be strong too," he tells him, speaking into his ear.

"I will be," Luke tells him that he will but it's not very assuring. "I'm just ... it's been a really, really long day," he exhales and Reid brings one of his hands up to cup Luke's cheek.

"Is this what it's like to be with you on all major holidays? Ex-boyfriends show up, relatives take your car, and other big family dramas all happen a few days a year?"

"Sometimes more than a few days a year." Luke opens his eyes and pulls back a little to look at Reid. "Why? Are you ready to back out?" he's smiling a little but there's that insecurity in Luke's eyes that Reid's familiar with.

"And miss all the fun?" Reid shakes his head. "Nope."

Luke smiles at him but he drops it quickly, turning his head to look at the door of the room they've just left.

"Tomorrow, I'll schedule a biopsy to confirm and I'll need a CT scan."

Luke nods and Reid takes his hand. They make a quick stop to the lockers, grabbing their coats, and removing any stethoscopes and medical equipment in hand before they walk back to the car.

"Do you want me to drop you off back at your place?" Luke asks when he's behind the wheel.

Reid thinks about it but shakes his head. "No, it's okay."

Luke glances over at him and smirks. "Dr. Reid Oliver prefers my childhood bed to his own?"

"Hey, Snyder, if you wanna turn this car around? Feel free."

Luke laughs a little and Reid thinks it's preferable to the Dr. Luke Snyder he saw throughout the day. He's seen Luke hurt and angry and worried and scared and all in a day. No one should have this much come down on them in one day. But, he has a feeling that these kind of natural disasters are attracted to Luke. Even now, he seems so exhausted, and Reid knows that that's partly because of the lack of sleep but partly because of the drama that follows him.

When they arrive back at the farm, they head straight to Luke's room, close, and lock the door behind them. They take off their clothes and lay them on the chair before Luke pulls back the covers on the bed. It's not a king sized bed so they don't have that much room to spread out like they do in Reid's bed but it's comfortable enough to fit the both of them.

Reid gets in first and finds a comfortable position, settling on his side as he waits for Luke. Luke turns off the light and then stretches out next to Reid. He's on his side, facing away from Reid, and Reid instinctively comes up behind him. He presses his chest to Luke's back and wraps an arm around his body.

"You okay?" Reid asks, pressing a kiss to Luke's shoulder.

"No," Luke speaks quietly. "Not really."

"Try to sleep," Reid murmurs against his skin.

Luke begins to turn around in his arms until they're facing each other. Reid can make him out a little in the moonlight. "I don't know if I can."

"Are you thinking about the kid?"

"Well, yeah. I'm thinking about him. I'm thinking about why he has to handle this at such a young age."

"It's a crappy thing to deal with at any age."

"Yeah, I know that but he's just a kid. I just ... I think that I can find myself relating to it and I know that I shouldn't. It's only going to make this tougher and I do have to be strong for them. I've been treating him for about a year now. He's always had some problems but I didn't think that it'd develop into anything as serious as this."

"No one expects these things. A kid like that should be running around and getting scrapes and bruises and breaking his arm falling out of his tree house but he's not. He's been dealt a really bad hand. A lot of kids don't have it easy."

Luke brings his hand up to Reid's face, gently moving his thumb over his jawline. "What about you? Something tells me that you didn't have it easy."

Reid wonders how the conversation suddenly turns to him. He's more comfortable talking about a kid with a brain tumor or the multiple kids with tumors than with talking about himself. No one's really cared enough to know about his own childhood. That's the sort of thing that you talk about with ... well, with someone like Luke.

"Yeah, you'd be right. You used school to escape from bad relationships and I did the same. My folks passed away when I was young and I went to live with my aunt and uncle. My aunt died and that just left me and my uncle and I don't really think that I had a shot at childhood afterward."

"After what?"

"After he found out that he could use me as a cash cow. I used to compete in these chess competitions and I was on my way to becoming the next Bobby Fischer sans the crazy until I finally decided to put a stop to it in high school."

"That's terrible."

"I got out of it eventually, got away from him, escaped to school, and ended up practicing in Dallas."

"And now you're here."

"And now I'm here."

"I'm glad that you are," Luke smiles and Reid leans in to kiss him, letting him feel that Reid's glad to be here too. More than glad. It's been a long time since he's wanted to share a bed with someone.

They kiss for a few minutes, lips moving slowly, lazily until Reid pulls away with a small smile on his face. "Rest," he tells him and settles back on his side.

"Goodnight, Reid," Luke murmurs, already settling in for the night.

"Night," Reid whispers and stays close behind him, wrapping his arm around him again. Luke places his hand on top of Reid's, linking their fingers together. They fall asleep just like that, tangled together, and finally resting after the long day.

Next.

fic: A Beautiful Mess, 10/22

no subject

no subject