Luke sleepily opened his eyes. The room he saw through his cloudy and weary sight was an unfamiliar one. He blinked rapidly and after a few seconds realized that he was lying in a hospital bed. Suddenly, everything came rushing back to him. The camping trip with Noah and the Colonel; the Colonel sending Noah back to the car for bait; sending him out to get firewood; the Colonel pointing the gun at him; his mother and father finding them; his father fighting with Noah's father for control of the gun; falling over and blacking out.
The door opened and his mother walked in.
"Hi, baby."
"Hi, Mom," Luke said blandly. "What happened?"
Lily opened her mouth and then shut it again. She then said, "I don't think you need to worry about that right now."
"Please tell me," Luke pleaded.
"Colonel Mayer tried to shoot you," Lily said, tears streaming down her face. "Your Dad was able to get him to misfire the gun. But you fell. You gave us a scare. How are you feeling?"
"I can't feel my legs," Luke said, realizing this for the first time and panicking.
Lily's eyes widened in fear. "I'm going to go get Bob." She left.
Five minutes later, Bob, Lily, and Holden walked back into the room. "Tell me if you can feel this," Bob said, touching Luke's foot.
Luke shook his head vigorously and started to hyperventilate.
"Ahhh!" Luke shouted, sitting bolt upright in bed and quickly moving his toes to make sure it had been a dream.
"What happened?" Reid Oliver mumbled sleepily, groggily turning over to look at him.
"Bad dream," Luke said, rubbing his face with his hands.
"Looks pretty bad," Reid said, sitting up and running his fingers through Luke's hair. "What was it?"
Luke clenched his teeth and sighed. "It was about me. Something I've never told you because I try to forget that it happened."
Reid looked curiously at Luke, who closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Not looking at the doctor, Luke said, "About three years ago, I…I was paralyzed."
"What?" Reid asked quietly.
Luke looked at Reid, who took the younger man's hands in his to encourage him to continue.
Luke understood and said, "Before Noah came out, his father, Colonel Mayer, had made if very clear that he didn't like me and that he didn't want me corrupting Noah, or whatever. And then when Noah came out, the Colonel all of the sudden accepted that Noah was gay and that we were together. I should have seen that something was wrong, but I didn't. Anyway, the Colonel said that he wanted to take me and Noah on a fishing trip. We agreed obviously, because we were happy that the Colonel was okay with us." Luke stopped talking for a few seconds.
"What happened?" Reid asked, though he thought he saw vaguely where the story was going.
"We went out to the forest on the edge of Oakdale and set up camp. The Colonel told Noah that he had forgotten fishing line or something at the car and that Noah should go get it. Meanwhile, I was out getting firewood. Once Noah was gone, the Colonel came looking for me," Luke said, his voice trembling slightly. Reid squeezed Luke's hand. "He had planned the trip as a way to get rid of me. He had planned on…on shooting me, on kill…killing me to keep me away from Noah." Reid breathed in sharply, horrified. "But Mom and Dad somehow figured out what was going on and found us just in time. Dad was able to wrestle the gun out of the Colonel's hand and he didn't end up shooting me. But…but I fell backwards onto the logs that I had been collecting for the fire. I was knocked unconscious and, I don't know exactly what happened, but I think there was swelling or something on my spine. When I woke up I couldn't feel or move anything below my waist." Luke finished, trying to hold back tears.
Reid stared at Luke for a few seconds and then pulled him into a kiss. When they broke apart, Luke asked, "What was that for?"
"Remember after Noah punched me and I said that you were pretty tough yourself?" Reid asked. Luke nodded. "Well, I was right. I just didn't know how right."
Luke looked at Reid and smiled slightly.
"There's just one thing I'm confused about. You're perfectly fine now. How is that?" Reid asked. "Unless it was just a temporary kind of paralysis?"
"No. They said it would most likely be permanent," Luke said, shifting under the covers so that he was facing Reid and crossing his legs Indian-style.
"But you're walking…among other things," Reid said, smiling. Luke smiled and lovingly smacked Reid's arm. "So I don't understand."
"It was Noah," Luke said.
"I'm sorry?" Reid said.
"Noah insisted on helping me, so I gave in and tried to get better for him."
"So you let him help you get better?" Reid asked. "And then he wouldn't let you help him?" Reid said, highly indignant.
Luke laughed. "I tell you that I was paralyzed and you get angry at how Noah treated me when he was blind. Have I told you how much I love you?"
Reid smiled. "Well, really, Noah was always going on about how you couldn't possibly understand what he was going through. Now, you tell me that you did, that you do. That makes his pushing you away even more absurd and idiotic. I mean, it didn't make sense before. But now it really doesn't."
"I think that Noah was so unable to handle being blind that he just didn't care to remember that I did understand what he was going through," Luke said.
"Well, he's an idiot," Reid said.
Luke chuckled and shifted again so he could put his head on Reid's shoulder.
"Damian couldn't blackmail and kidnap anyone to fix you?"
Luke shook with laughter. When he caught his breath, he said, "Damian wasn't around. He was in Malta. As far as I know, he never knew I was paralyzed."
"It must have been awful for you," Reid said, kissing the top of Luke's head.
"It was. But I had Noah and my parents. And I'm better now. And that," Luke said, lifting his head off of Reid's shoulder and looking at him, "is in the largest way because of you."
Reid smiled. "You really are pretty tough for someone so young."
"So are you," Luke said. "I love you."
"I love you, too," Reid said, kissing Luke and falling back on the pillows with the blonde on top of him.