Oh my God, what am I doing? Don’t look so scared, everybody. I would never harm you. It’s all about HIM!
After quickly scanning the room, Lily’s eyes were back on the Big Offender. She hated him even more for not looking scared. She was pointing a gun right at him. How could he not be scared?
Instead he looked her straight in the eyes. The nerve of this guy!
She wanted to tell him. How she worried about Luke. Lured in by some cocky doctor with way too much self-awareness and way too little humanity to ever really understand Luke’s vulnerability. She wanted him to know how scared she was. She knew her son. She could see how invested Luke was. How committed. She knew he would be devastated if – no, not if…when – Reid got tired of Luke. And that had to happen. Luke was so vulnerable, so inexperienced, so young… after his first flush of victory over stealing him away from Noah, Reid would get bored with Luke’s emotional ways. She knew he would. She wanted to tell him. But before she had the chance, Ethan became the center of attention. Sitting on Holden’s lap, the boy gave her a piercing look.
“Mommy, I know you’re angry, but that’s okay.”
Lily felt the love for her youngest bubble up, but her hate came flushing back in when Ethan continued:
“Right, Reid?”
She didn’t want to register how moved everyone was. She didn’t want to admit that Reid’s smile was as loving as any smile could be. She refused to hear the tenderness in his voice, when he answered: “You’re right about that, Sport. Nothing wrong with being angry.”
“And it’s not scary, right?” Ethan’s voice trembled.
“Nope,” Reid focused on Lily again, his face neutral, his voice calm. “It’s not scary at all.”
Was he challenging her? Did he think she was bluffing? Did he think he could win her over, like he managed to do with Luke and Damian?
Reid saw the hate flicker in her eyes. Okay, maybe this was becoming a little scary after all. He probably tensed up a little, because he could feel Luke’s respond immediately. And Luke being Luke, he decided to come to the rescue, rising from his chair.
“Mom, put that gun down,” he sounded much calmer than he felt, Luke noticed, and it gave him courage to go on. “You know what will happen if you hurt him.”
Lily looked vexed.
“What…”
“I will never look at you ever again.”
He spotted Lily’s ‘I know you better than that’ -smile and his face turned into stone.
“I know, so far I’ve let you get away with everything, so I don’t blame you for thinking it won’t come to that, but let me assure you,” Luke sounded and looked more determined than Lily had ever encountered, “that I’m done. If you hurt him in any way, you’ll be dead to me.”
The gun shook a little, showing Lily was affected by his words. But not enough to give in. Not enough to change strategy. Not enough to capitulate. Luke’s words turned into new fuel for the blazing fire inside of her.
“Look what’s happening! You’ve been together for what…a few weeks? And already he has you brainwashed! Pronouncing me dead! That’s not you. That’s him!”
By putting his hand on Luke’s calf, Reid tried to calm him down, but to no avail. Luke was furious.
“I see. So when I say something you like to hear, it’s coming from me, but when it’s something you don’t want to hear, it’s Reid’s fault. Like all the good stuff comes from God and all the bad stuff comes from the devil, right? Isn’t that convenient. That way you will never have to learn how to love the whole package,” his look wandered to Kim and the older woman nodded at him. She remembered their earlier conversation and her eyes encouraged him. You’re doing great, Luke. Stay calm.
“What are you saying now, Luke?” Lily sneered. “That I don’t love you?”
She looked at Reid and her silent accusation was clear. Are you happy now?
Reid just shrugged. He was biding time and wanted to make sure he would not provoke Lily. Shutting up seemed the smartest thing to do. Luke obviously didn’t agree and answered Lily.
“You really aren’t listening to me, are you?” Luke’s voice was icy. “I don’t even know why that surprises me. You didn’t hear me when I told you how happy Reid makes me, so why would it be different now?”
“I’ve heard you,” Lily scoffed, “But I know you’re just fooling yourself. Maybe Reid makes you feel needed, and that’s making you feel happy…But we both know, this isn’t real. This won’t last. The discrepancy in character is simply too big to overcome. And where will that leave you? Brokenhearted.”
“So you’re a fortuneteller now? You can predict the future? And you know what, you could be right. I don’t think so – or else I wouldn’t be here – but you could be right. But what is the alternative? Never to fall in love again?”
“You could stick to what you know you can handle.”
To her surprise, Luke threw his arms in the air and sat down again.
“I give up,” he sounded despondent. “This conversation is over. I’m done.”
“Hang in there,” Reid whispered, but before he could say more, Lily interrupted. Loudly.
“Shut UP!” She actually screamed. “Don’t make me hurt you, Reid. I mean it. Just tell me you’ll leave.”
“Leave what?”
“Luke. Oakdale. America. Just leave!”
Reid’s focused ears finally heard the sound he’d been waiting for and it brought back all calmness.
“I’m afraid that’s not an option. I won’t leave Luke. Not even if my life depends on it.”
“We’ll see about that…”
Lily straightened her back and looked like she was ready to shoot, when there was a clicking sound in each of her ears. She tilted her head a little and looked into a barrel of a gun herself. A large hand folded over hers, taking the gun out of her hand.
“I’ll take that,” a low voice said not unfriendly but firm.
In shock she felt handcuffs around her wrists. She looked at Holden. All his attention was on distracting Ethan and Natalie. She looked at Luke. He looked back. Relieved, but clearly without any intention to help her. Before she could lay her grievances before him, the two security guys led her away. Filling the house with a sense of gratitude and wonder.
“Where did those guys come from?” Katie looked baffled. “It felt like a Divine Intervention or something.”
“Their timing was pretty good,” Reid nodded and showed his guests a little black device. “For some reason I felt compelled to turn on our alarm system after we came in the house. And we can safely say it worked.”
Reid stroked Luke’s hair.
“Are you okay?”
Luke tried to smile, but wasn’t very convincing. Inside Reid cursed Lily for ruining a nice dinner. Again. As he watched their guests, he realized this dinner could only be ruined if they let it be ruined. Time for action!
“How about coffee in the living room?”
He stood up, placed himself behind Luke and softly massaged the tense shoulders.
“You find yourself a nice seat and Luke and I will be in later with some steaming goodness.”
They all nodded, except Emma. She hesitated and Reid smiled.
“No Emma, please leave it. Luke and I will clean up later. Just go on and relax. You deserve it.”
Now she did give a nod.
“Okay, my dear. I must admit… I’m pretty tired.”
“So let us take care of you, for a change,” Reid saw her worried glance at Luke and he looked as reassuring as he could. Don’t worry, I’ll look after him. It worked. She blew him a kiss and left the room.
“Luke?” Reid sat next to him and pushed Luke’s chin up, “It’s over.”
Their eyes met.
“She was ready to kill you.”
“That’s what it looked like, but we don’t know for sure.”
“You are defending her now, are you?”
Hold the phone… who turned the world upside down and made him the bad guy?
“What did I do?”
“You’re making excuses for her! Don’t!”
“Excuse me?”
Luke looked at him, shook his head and took his hand.
“I’m sorry. It’s not you. I’m just…” he took a deep sign, “blowing off steam.”
“I see. So this is you blowing off steam. Good luck with that.”
Reid stood up and walked to the door.
“If you’re done, I’ll be at the coffeemaker. Watching that steam is more fun.”
It was a childish remark, he knew, but hell… he was the one facing a gun for what felt like hours.
Although focused on the black fluid finding its way into the glass pot, he heard Luke closing in and when he felt the arms coming from behind around his waist, it was hard to stay put.
“So this is you being angry,” Luke softly said. “I had almost forgotten that gruff and annoyed part of you. Good to know you haven’t lost it.”
Okay. He was only human. He just had to bite.
“I see. So that’s a part of me you’ve missed, have you?”
Luke grinned.
“Missed is a strong word,” he wormed himself between Reid and the counter, so he could touch Reid’s head. “But I am glad you’re not repressing it. Whole package and all that.”
Reid gave him a quick nod while his eyes soften.
“Okay then. Coffee is ready.”
Luke shook his head and Reid’s annoyance was back.
“What? You can hear it’s…”
“We’re not leaving it like this,” he took Reid’s hand and squeezed it. With a little sigh Reid let his fingers play with Luke’s. “Talk to me, Reid. Why are you so angry?”
“I had a gun in my face for God knows how long, Luke. It made me edgy. Can I get some space to wrap my brain around all that?”
Before Luke could reply, his phone rang. The name on the screen made Luke take the call.
“Margo, hi.”
While putting a whole lot of mugs on a tray – for some reason Reid wasn’t able to count the number of guests – Luke asked him if they could go to the police station to make a statement tomorrow and he shrugged. Whatever.
Luke rolled his eyes and confirmed the appointment to Margo, watching Reid filling mug after mug. After a quick confirmation that ‘they felt shaken up, but would be alright’ Luke disconnected the call and put his hand on Reid’s arm.
“We need just nine, Reid.” He removed a few – still empty – mugs from the tray, emptied mug no. 10 and 11 into the coffeepot and rubbed Reid’s upper arm.
“You wait here, I’ll bring this in.”
Luke put sugar, cream and two sodas for the younger kids on the tray and walked away. Reid could hear their guests greet the coffee with great enthusiasm and suddenly knew what to do. How to shake off the drama. He needed to surround himself with people. He laughed to himself. It sounded surreal. He needed other people in close proximity to regain some sort of sanity. Go figure.
