Reid walked into his hotel room and dropped his bag the bed. He had been tense ever since Luke had insisted on coming on this trip to try to save his career.

For some unknown and annoying reason, Mr. Luke Snyder had become a thorn in Reid's side. Not only had he blackmailed him into dropping everything in Dallas to travel to Oakhell, Illinois he had the audacity to be everywhere he went. Every time he turned around Mr. Snyder was there with his cute smirk and chipper attitude. No matter what he did could not escape the hold that Luke had on that time-forsaken town.

Never in all his life had seen someone so dedicated to others. Luke was some kind of special do-gooder that followed his heart and passion blindly in helping all those in need. Frankly, he found it quite annoying. "Who in the hell does that?" He especially did not understand his unwavering puppy like devotion to his ex-boyfriend, Noah Mayer.

Reid sank into the overstuffed armchair that overlooked the Dallas skyline. Reid thought about everything that made him miss the city. It was as if he was just one brilliant neurosurgeon in a land of millions. He was very famous in medical circles, but he was allowed to have a private life that did not come under scrutiny. It sure as hell did not include an annoyingly hot blonde man who was everywhere, or the same annoyingly hot blonde man who had no problem interfering in his personal space, touching him whenever he pleased, and setting his skin of fire.

And it all happened because Mr. Luke Snyder had blackmailed him into leaving the shelter of his normal, private, quite Dallas life. He was taken to the place where he never wanted to live, the place that ruined his anonymity and the place that forced him to create personal relationships.

Everything he never needed or wanted had been thrust upon him by that kid.

Reid wasn't even so much angry any more that Luke had blackmailed him into going to Oakhell, he was far more upset that he had Luke worm his way into his life. Now looking out over the lights of Dallas, he realized how empty his life was before. He had no close personal relationships with anyone, no ties holding his life there, and even his work could be done anywhere in the United States.

The place where he had built a life, a good life, one without distractions or complications, but for the first time in his life he felt an unfamiliar pang when he thought about his life in Dallas. "Was it sadness, grief, or simply indigestion?" He had after all just eaten three bowls of chili and six pieces of cornbread from Al's.

His thoughts went to the plane ride from Oakdale to Dallas and smiled. The ride for the first half an hour was relatively quiet. The only sounds heard were Reid and Luke eating chili and the rustle of magazine pages turning as Reid read his National Geographic magazine and watch Luke out of the corner of his eye.

Luke barely touched his chili or cornbread, only to stir the chili and pick at his bread. Reid could tell that Luke was reliving the sight of Noah and his new friend Dick on a "non-date" or whatever the hell Noah was calling it.

Reid simply did not get love or the human heart. It rarely made decisions rationally and often led to problems that could not be solved by use of the brain. The brain was the only thing Reid knew inside and out and it often failed him when it came to matters of the heart.

Reid turned back to his National Geographic magazines, turned his brain off, and simply just enjoyed the reading for what it was.

About twenty minutes later, he looked up to see Luke had fallen asleep with his head falling against the window.

Reid smiled at the sight of Luke's peaceful expression and got up to use the restroom. He made his way back a few minutes later and saw Luke stretching and smiling.

Reid halfway between the restroom and his seat stopped in his tracks. Luke's blonde hair shone in the late afternoon sunlight peering through the window and when he flashed his pearly whites at Reid, he looked like an angel.

Reid didn't respond to the smile. He couldn't respond. He felt like his shirt and coat were restricting air flow and he couldn't catch his breath to save his life. Reid was not happy with the affect that Luke had on him.

It truly was a most unfortunate attraction. After all Luke was admittedly in love with his patient, his blind patient, Noah Mayer.

Reid went over all the reasons how incredibly unprofessional it was for him to want to accidentally let his hand slip in surgery, and it was even more unprofessional to imagine ripping off Luke's clothes and pinning him up against the wall whenever he got too close.

Reid groaned quietly to himself as he felt his loins tighten and stir. He quickly grabbed his magazines and shifted them in his lap to cover his arousal. There was no way in the world he would ever let Luke know what kind of depravity he incited in him every time Luke flippantly touched him.

Luke turned to look at Reid who was now overheated. Reid's face turned red as he tried to get a few fingers between his shirt and his neck. Luke looked at Reid with an odd look on his face. Luke finally broke the ice a few seconds later and said, "Are you feeling okay Dr. Oliver?" "Are you afraid of flying as well as elevators?"

Reid scoffed and said, "Of course not, Mr. Snyder. It just feels incredibly warm in here. Does your family not believe in installing central air in their private jets? We are after all flying into Texas, in the middle of spring, where it is much warmer than Oakhell."

Luke laughed and turned the air on and turned it full blast on Reid. "Does that feel better, Dr. Oliver?"

"Yes, much, Mr. Snyder."

About ten minutes later they finally landed and Reid quickly jumped up and grabbed his items and was ready to get out into the warm Dallas air.

Reid made a great gesture of pretending to be engrossed in his case files the entire way to the hotel and only looked at Luke a few times who was staring out the window as the sites of Dallas whipped by.

Once they had arrived at the hotel, Reid wanted nothing more than to get into his room and get away from all things Luke Snyder.

Now as Reid sat in the chair in his hotel room he wondered what Luke was doing at the very moment and if he was torturing himself with thoughts of Noah.

Reid got up and decided it was time to get to work. Everything rested on this case. His entire life, everything he had ever worked for, wanted, or aspired to rested in the hands of this medical board.

Nothing was going to stand in his way, not even a gorgeous blonde who happened to be in the hotel room next to his.