Written for the first prompt round given at lureficresource at LiveJournal. The prompt: Rewrite on Katie's latest attempted Chris/Alison hookup. Luke and Reid are the ones who end up getting locked in the video room.
Disclaimer: I don't own Luke, Reid or ATWT. If I did, they would have gotten together a long time ago!
Katie swept her fingers across the videotapes with a fond smile, the happiness burning from the celluloid into her very soul. She would never feel such joy, such love again, it was inevitable, but that didn't mean she couldn't help others find it. Chris had made it absolutely clear he wanted her to butt out, and for once in her life she was going to listen to what he said instead of her own instincts, but she knew someone else who could benefit from her meddling.
Dr. Reid Oliver, the man who never let anyone get too close and sneered at the world from behind his white lab coat armor, was really a gentle and caring man. He just had different standards as to who was privy to that side of him, and Katie knew she was one of two in Oakdale who had been granted that privilege. Luke Snyder was the other. And if anyone deserved happiness, it was sweet, selfless Luke who continued to care and look after a man who wanted nothing to do with him, Luke who worked to keep the company he didn't want afloat until the new leadership landed on its feet and Luke who put everyone else's happiness above his own. Yes, Luke deserved to be happy and she just knew Reid was the one to make him so.
The tech's earlier warning lingered in Katie's head and a plan formed almost instantly. Getting them down here would be tricky, but not impossible. Thanking God for her amazing cell provider, Katie quickly dialed Luke's number on nearly full reception.
"Hello?" He sounded exhausted, sad and broke Katie's heart.
"Hey Luke, it's Katie. Where are you?"
"Oldtown. Why?"
"Well, I'm going through some of the inventory in the stock room and there are a bunch of tapes from when you were interning here that I just cannot seem to sort out. Do you think you could come down here and help me?"
"Katie...that was nearly three years ago, I'm not sure how much I remember about the filing system."
"Well, I'm sure it's just like riding a bike. There's not that many of them."
"I don't know," he sighed. "I really just want to go home." He sounded so tiny and defeated Katie almost gave up, but she just couldn't. She knew this would work out. It had to because if it didn't it would destroy her already deteriorating view on finding happiness.
"It won't take long, I swear. I'll make it up to you somehow. Please?"
"Fine," Luke said in a long-suffering sigh. "But you owe me." And with that, he hung up.
And now for the tricky part: getting Reid here. Katie bit her lip, thinking for a moment. This had to be really good, he would see through a flimsy thing like she just told Luke. Just as she was about to dial, her phone rang and she nearly squealed when she saw Reid's name flash up on the screen. "Thank you!" She whispered, her eyes looking up before she answered the phone. "Hey Reid! What's up?"
"I know that as the roommate to a woman with a baby, some things are expected of me and I can handle the odd bottle-feeding or even, God forbid, a diaper change. But that does not give your babysitter the right to drop your baby in my lap because she has somewhere to be."
Katie, her mind still on her ingenious plan and coming up with ways to keep Luke here until Reid arrived, suddenly registered what he was saying. "Wait, Becky left Jacob with you?"
"Yes," he sneered. "Apparently she didn't know where you were and her making out with her boyfriend, which I am sure is what she is now doing, was more important to her than making a few extra bucks because you're running late. Why her clearly addled brain lead her to believe giving Jacob to me while I'm at work was a good idea, I'll never know."
Katie sighed, rubbing her forehead. "I'm really sorry about this. When are you off your shift?"
"Now, Katie, because I have a baby in my office. I had to give the rest of my round to Doogie Hughes. So please, come get your son so I can leave."
"Actually, do you think you could bring him to the station? I don't know how much longer I'm going to be here." She almost giggled at how well this was all working out.
"What? No! Come get your kid or I'm leaving him here."
"You could threaten me with a less-safe place to abandon him, you know." She glanced at her watch. Oldtown was a good ten minutes further from the station than the hospital. "It's either bring him here or watch him the rest of the night. Your choice."
"I don't have a car seat," he protested. "And I don't want to give the cops an excuse to pull me over. I know they've been dying to lock me up since I got here."
"Well, then, walk."
"Excuse me?"
"You heard me. It's a lovely day outside and you need to work off those sandwiches. It's only a couple of blocks so it'll probably take you ten minutes instead of two." There was a pause filled with Jacob cooing in the background. Katie smiled warmly at the sound, imagining Reid sitting next to the stroller, a soft look on his face.
"Fine, I'll be there right after I finish this report," he said in a resigned tone. "But you owe me."
"Promise," Katie said and hung up the phone. "When this is done you will both owe me." She grinned and went about looking for the tapes she had lied to Luke about finding, because if she had to keep him here while they waited for Reid, she might as well make it look like she was telling the truth.
Luke showed up about five minutes later, just as Katie located the right tapes. "Excellent!" She said brightly as the young man shuffled in before thrusting the box into his hands. "I think this is everything. Why don't you get started and I'll be right back?" She patted him on the shoulder before flying out the door.
"But-" Luke called after her but Katie was already halfway up the stairs. She needed to make sure Reid went into that room and her mind buzzed with a new plan just as her phone buzzed with a text from Reid, telling her he was in the station.
Quickly walking onto the set she found Reid in her office, shaking Jacob's monkey over his head as the little boy quietly hiccuped with old tears.
"Finally," Reid sighed. "He started screaming as soon as we walked in." He shoved the stuffed animal into Katie's hands and began to walk out the door. "See you at home."
"Wait!" Katie cried, grabbing Reid's arm. "I left my stuff downstairs and need you to come with me to get it."
"Why can't you go get the stuff yourself?" Reid turned to face her and for the first time Katie realized how sad and tired he looked. Just like Luke. If she wasn't determined to get these two men together before, she certain was now.
"Because the door sticks and I don't want to get trapped inside and there are plenty of people here I trust to watch Jacob for the five minutes we'll be gone. Molly!" She called out to the brunette as she passed the door. Katie didn't know her exceedingly well, but well enough to know she could trust the older woman with Jacob. "Do you think you could watch Jacob just for a few minutes? I have to go get something from the archives and Reid's coming with me."
An odd, almost suspicious look passed over Molly's face as she glanced between the two, but she nodded anyway and immediately leaned over Jacob's stroller to coo.
Before Reid could protest, Katie had already dragged him down to the basement where Luke sat in front of a box of tapes, innocent of what was about to happen and still trying to figure out why Katie wanted him to look at a box of already perfectly sorted tapes.
Reid rolled his eyes as they trudged down yet another corridor. Where the hell was this place? The center of the Earth? Just as he was about to question Katie's sense of direction, she stopped in front of a doorway and proceeded to push Reid through it.
"What the hell?" He said as he stumbled into a pair of strong arms. He looked up to see Luke staring down at him with a look of confusion he was sure was on his own face before a loud bang rang through the small room. Reid pushed out of Luke's grasp and turned to see the door shut where Katie once stood.
"Katie!" He yelled as he tried to yank open the door. It wouldn't budge. "Let us out!"
"Not until you two talk things through!" Katie's muffled voice answered. "I'll be back in an hour to check on you."
"Check on us? You think we'll need to be stuck in here longer than that?" Reid pounded the door again when Katie didn't answer. "Meddling idiot."
"Her heart's in the right place," Luke said quietly from the chair he had returned to.
"Yeah, but I'm not so sure about her brain," Reid grumbled as he crossed his arms and leaned against the door, staring a Luke.
The blonde sat with his shoulders hunched, staring morosely at the box of tapes in front of him. "This is where Noah and I met," he said wistfully after a few silent minutes. "Here in the station."
"Is that so?" There was an edge to Reid's voice. He really didn't want to hear this.
"Yeah..." He trailed off and sat silent in his memories for a while longer (while Reid did everything he could to control his frustration) and then said: "This reminds me of when Allison and Casey locked us up on the roof after..." He stopped and looked up at Reid as though he just realized the doctor was there.
"After what?" Reid asked softly. After the rather interesting view of alcoholics Luke gave him in the bar, Reid realized he knew very little about the blonde and it irked him. Especially since Luke knew more about him than he'd like to admit.
"Never mind," Luke said, turning his eyes back to the tapes.
Something hot and ugly flared inside Reid. "Right, because you're so good at keeping secrets unless it's from your precious boyfriend."
"I told you already he and I aren't together," Luke answered without any of the fire Reid had been expecting. "And I wanted to tell him about us because I hate lying, it's ruined too much before."
"And you wanted to clear the way for your brand new relationship, I get it." Reid shoved off from the door angrily. He was going to kill Katie.
"God, you keep saying that but you really don't!" Luke shouted as he threw himself up from the chair. Finally, a reaction.
"Enlighten me, please. Why else would you want to tell the guy you're so madly in love with that you kissed me? And then how we almost had sex on the day I was going to operate on said boyfriend's head?" Reid stood in the middle of the room, his arms still crossed. He longed to get closer to Luke, to step into the younger man's personal space, but that led to things other than talking and as much as he hated Katie, she was right. They needed to talk.
"Stop putting words in my mouth, okay?" Luke answered hotly as he placed his hands behind him on the table and faced Reid. "I don't want to be with Noah. I love him, a part of me will always love him, but I don't want him. Not anymore."
"For now," Reid scoffed.
"No. I've seen how quickly he can turn away from me. And if I'm being honest with myself, I've known that since Ameera. But I'm done with waiting for him to realize he wants me." Luke took a step toward the doctor, his face still screwed up in anger, only a bit softer. "Reid, didn't it ever occur to you I didn't want you to be my dirty little secret? It never crossed your mind, did it? I want to be with you." He took another step and it took everything Reid had not to take a step back. "You make me feel wanted, appreciated and I don't second-guess my actions around you. I know what I want and I know I can tell you it. If you're not being to much of a stubborn ass to listen."
They both chuckled slightly, the tension receding.
"But that doesn't stop Noah from wanting to be with you, and you have to admit the temptation is pretty big." Reid said, remembering how defeated he felt when he realized Luke had only come looking for him at Yo's because he was the second choice.
"You know, both you and Noah seem to be suffering from the same illness that leads you to assume I want to be in a relationship with him."
"Don't you?" Reid asked and tried to get away from Luke who had come even closer. The blonde had a way of muddling Reid's thoughts and if he couldn't think clearly, he might let himself believe Luke wanted him. Luke held out his arm and blocked Reid's path.
"No. He'll always be a part of me, I'll always have a soft spot for him, he was my everything for two years. We went through so much together and..." he trailed off at the deep scowl on Reid's face. "What?"
"That, that right there makes me hate him."
"What?"
"He knows so much more about you, he'll always share a part of you that I will never see. He knew the Luke before Damian came to town and the Luke who was happy because his parents were together. He knows who the hell Ameera is. And I hate him for it. I hate him because he knows all things that I don't know." Reid clamped his mouth before he could say anymore. Damn it.
"Like what?" Luke looked almost amused and Reid wasn't sure if he should be angry or embarrassed.
"Like what your comment in the bar has to do with the scar on your abdomen."
Luke's hand automatically flew to spot where the stripe of puckered flesh lay hidden beneath his shirt. "How do you know...oh. Dallas." He had the decency to blush.
"Yes," Reid replied with a small smirk. "Dallas." He sighed. "I want to know your secrets and your dreams and what your favorite color is. I don't do date nights and rose petals on the bed, but you make me want to. I want to shout from the rooftops and tell the world how much I want you and I don't hate myself for it." Luke had the audacity to chuckle, though he didn't move away. "You make me want to be normal, to be average and I can't decide if I should punch you or kiss you because you make me want it. I want you, all of you."
Luke stared as though memorized, his breathing slightly accelerated. And then he took the final step forward, their lips mere inches apart. "Well, I'd prefer kissing to fistfights," Luke said with a grin. "And my favorite color is green. And I promise to tell you everything you want to know about me, about my past. But what's so wrong with being average? What's wrong with wanting normalcy?"
Reid had to take a step back, he couldn't think straight. He never could around Luke. "It's not who I am! I've never been normal. Even as a kid, I was always trying to figure out how things worked and why people acted the way they did. I was too curious, too eager to learn to just go outside and play. I-" He cut off before he divulged into his childhood full of merciless teasing and parents who just didn't understand. He couldn't expose himself like that, not yet. Not when he still knew so little about Luke.
"Wanting normal," Luke said gently as he closed the gap between them, "is okay. Wanting what everyone else has does not make you less who of you are. But I don't want what everyone else has." Reid's heart would have sunk if he didn't see the spark of desire in Luke's eye. "What they have is boring. I want you, all of you: the fighting, the bluntness, the secrets and if it happens, the small moments of normality. I want you Reid. Only you. And so you don't know who I was before, but that doesn't matter. I don't want you to know him, I want you to know me, now. The me who cares for you. A lot."
Reid let out the breath he had been holding since he kissed Luke in Dallas. Finally, finally he said the words the doctor had been longing to hear and he meant them. And yet... "We can't let anyone know, not until after Noah is better at the least." Luke's brow furrowed and disappointment slackened his features. He tried to take a step away but Reid grabbed his hand and pulled him close. "I don't want the board accusing me of jeopardizing a patient with my personal life. Or for taking advantage of a board member and shutting down the work we're doing on the wing."
Luke's lips curled into a slow, sexy smile and his free arm snaked around Reid's neck. "Well, that should be easy enough to avoid. I'll just tell them I was a very willing participant." He closed the small distance between them with a kiss. It felt like coming home and Reid moaned into the kiss before somehow managing to pull away. It took all he had not to echo Luke's whimper.
"Promise me one thing," he said seriously. Luke nodded, still slightly dazed, his eyes glued to Reid's lips as though looking away would make the world shatter. "You'll make it perfectly clear to Noah he has no chance with you anymore."
"He already knows," Luke insisted though he didn't meet Reid's eyes.
"Does he?" Reid lifted Luke's chin, forcing his gaze up. "Because I'm not so sure. You said he was confused. Straighten him out, but without telling him about us. I'm pretty sure that won't help matters."
Luke nodded and kissed him softly as he ran his fingers through the hairs at the nape of Reid's neck. "Consider it done."
Reid sighed into another brief kiss before pulling away fully and walking back toward the door. "Now, how do we get out of here? Though, I don't know if I want to face her when she finds out this worked."
Luke smirked as he glanced at his watch. "She said she'd be back in an hour, I think we have about half of that left." When he looked back up his smirk turned into a smile as Reid stalked sensuously toward him and kept walking until the blonde's back hit the wall. He placed his hands on either side of Luke's shoulders, trapping him there, though they both knew he didn't mind. "Now, what do you suggest we do for the next thirty minutes?"
"Oh," Luke drew out the word seductively as he ran his hands up Reid's scrubs-clad chest. "I can think of a few things."
Let me know what you think!