Title: Every Breath You Take
Author: Gizmo the Mugai
Rating: M
Genre: Romance, Tragedy, Hurt, Comfort, Friendship, Family, Angst, Drama and Humor.
Disclaimer: Sadly, I do not own anyone or anything from the show. This is just for fun.
Summary: This is set in AU were Chris had the heart transplant, but he received the heart that was gotten for him by Tom and Margo. Reid still had to go and get the heart from Bay City General, but there was no train. Everyone must cope with the latest attack on Luke.
Characters: Luke, Reid, Katie, Chris, Casey, Alison, Faith, Natalie, Ethan, Jacob and various other characters.
Love Pairings: Luke/Reid, Katie/Chris, Casey/Alison
Friendship Pairings: Reid/Katie, Luke/Casey, Luke/Alison, Katie/Alison
Love/Hate Pairings: Reid/Chris
Warning: Well with the rating at M there is going to be lots of language, sex and violence.
Author Notes: If I have anything off from history of the show, I am very sorry. I would really like to know about it if possible. I also have their ages that I have them at, listed here. Reid and Chris are 35, Katie is 32, Luke, Casey and Alison are 25, Faith is 19, Natalie is 13, Ethan is 7 and Jacob is 2. When someone else comes into the story I will try and pick an age for them that would seem right for them. I know the ages are probably not right and will never be right but come on, it's a soap. Half the adults are like only ten years older then their oldest child. Hell, Luke was born in 1995 and they had him at 22/23 in the end of the show.
Luke Snyder and Reid Oliver have been together for two years.
Luke was still running his multi-million dollar foundation and shipping company while Reid was now Co-Chief of Staff at Memorial Hospital with Chris Hughes and the head of the Snyder Pavilion Neurology wing. They live together in the apartment Reid once shared with Katie Peretti Snyder before she and Jacob moved in with Chris. A year ago Reid had walked Katie down the isle at her wedding to Chris, much to Reid's dislike. Over the weekends Luke's younger siblings Natalie and Ethan, along with Jacob, would stay with them. Luke thought it was funny that Reid could get along so great with kids but when it came to adults or teenagers, much like his now college bound sister Faith, he was horrible.
Reid was currently sleeping, being it was his first day off in almost five months. Luke on the other hand was sitting on the couch, his legs resting on the coffee table and his laptop in hand. He had his ear puds in and the music blaring from his iPod, sitting on the couch next to him. Wearing only an old pair of Reid's hospital scrub bottoms. He had gone to bed with Reid around eight that night but it was now three in the morning and he couldn't sleep anymore. On his laptop, he had a word pad open and he was typing away. More like typing a page, not liking it so he would delete and start over.
"Snyder!" Reid yelled from behind the couch at Luke, pulling the ear puds out from Luke's ears, "You're going to go deaf before you're thirty."
Luke smiled, "At least I have five years before then I guess."
"What are you doing up?" Reid asked, walking around the couch and plopping down next to his boyfriend and turning his head to look at him.
Reid was wearing an old Harvard college t-shirt and sweat pants.
"I couldn't sleep anymore." Luke replied, turning his iPod off.
"Luke, you need your rest. It's only been three days since you were released from the hospital. At least you should have woken me up too."
"I know, I know. I just didn't want to bother you. Today is your first day of in months since you and Chris became Co-Chiefs at Memorial." Luke looked down at his torso where he had four different bandages taped to him. Two on his stomach, one on his right side and the fourth was almost completely covered by the scrub bottoms he was wearing.
"Are you in any pain?" Reid asked, running his hand through Luke's blond hair.
Luke just shook his head. He was never a good liar and Reid knew that. Reid ran his hand through Luke's hair again, remembering the last time Luke had such long hair. It was when Reid first met Luke at Memorial after Luke had blackmailed him to Oakdale.
"Do you want some aspirin?" he asked
Luke smiled and nodded. Reid took the cue and stood back up. He went to the kitchen and grabbed a water from the fridge before grabbing the aspirin bottle that was on the dining table. He took two pills from the bottle and took his seat back on the couch next to the younger man. He handed the aspirin and water to Luke. Luke quickly popped them into his mouth and took a sip of water before leaning his head against the back of the couch. Reid turned so he was facing Luke and propped his arm on the back of the couch, his hand stretched out to run his fingers through Luke's hair again.
"We should change those bandages while we're up." Reid finally said after a few minutes of silence, "And then go back to bed. At least try and get some sleep."
Luke was silent, keeping his eyes on the ceiling.
"Luke, what is it?"
"Every time I close my eyes." Luke took a deep breath, "All I can see is the knife and all the blood. My blood. Everywhere." Tears were now forming in his eyes, "I'm afraid to fall asleep." Luke finally turned his head to look at Reid.
Reid scooted closer on the couch to Luke. Using his free hand that was not tangled in Luke's hair to cup Luke's chin. He leaned in and kissed him lightly on the lips before leaning their foreheads together.
"You're fine. You're alive." he told him, "I am here and will never let anything else happen to you. I promise you that."
Luke smiled, "You can't promise something like that, Reid. I'm a Grimaldi. Someone is always going to be after me because I'm Damian's son."
"You may be a Grimaldi by birth, but you are a Snyder by any other aspect."
"You really are becoming a sap." Luke laughed before wincing from the pain.
"I blame you and will still deny anything about it." Reid kissed him again, "Come on. Let's get you back to bed so I can change those bandages and you can get some sleep. I'll be right there the whole time. That I can promise."
Luke just nodded as Reid took his laptop and sat it on the coffee table. He then stood up and carefully helped Luke to his feet. They made their way around the couch and into their bedroom, which once use to be Katie's. Luke sat down on the edge of the bed and carefully laid down while Reid got what he needed to clean and change the bandages on Luke's torso.
It only took ten minutes and then they were both curled up with each other as best they could without Reid hurting Luke. Luke was laying on his back because that was the only way he was not in any pain. Reid was on his side facing Luke. The arm he would be laying on was above his head and his fingers were running through Luke's hair again while his other hand was laced in Luke's hand.
"Luke, you have to close your eyes in order to sleep." Reid smiled, "Unless you've mastered sleeping with your eyes open."
"I can't."
"Luke, I know you haven't been sleeping well since you were released from Memorial and that is not good. You need your rest."
"You said that already." Luke turned his head to look at him.
"Do I have to say it again?"
"At the hospital I had no choice but to sleep." Luke told him, "You were giving me drugs to sleep. Here, I have a choice."
"And what happens when you collapse out of exhaustion? That's not going to help your healing and send you back to the hospital, where you'll have no choice but to sleep again. So just try and sleep, for me?"
Luke nodded before slowly closing his eyes. It was only a few minutes before his breathing evened out and Reid knew that he was asleep. He also knew that Luke was a light sleeper so he could not get out of bed or move without waking the younger man, though he had no intention of moving from that spot so he stayed where he was. His mind started to wondering to the day that Luke had been attacked.
Reid followed Luke to his car outside of Memorial. In Luke's arms was a sleeping Jacob. They were babysitting for Chris and Katie, who had gone on a week vacation, just the two of them before Katie had the new baby she was currently five months pregnant with. Luke and Jacob had just been in Reid's office having lunch with him but Luke was running late for a meeting at the foundation so they had to cut it short so Luke could get Jacob to the farm to be watched by Faith, who was home for the summer from New York. Luke quickly got the two year old into his cat seat before turning back to Reid. Reid cupped his hand to the back of Luke's neck and pulled him into a kiss.
"Okay, I really need to go or I'm going to be late." Luke pulled away, "I've been late three times this week to meetings."
Reid kissed him again, "Your mom knows you're taking care of Jacob and it's hard to find someone to watch him for you while you work."
"I took Jacob to the late two meetings and had my secretary babysit him." Luke laughed, "So turn around and head back inside before I decide to kidnap you again."
"Oh, we're back to that are we?" Reid smiled before pulling him in for another kiss, "Okay. I'll see you tomorrow. Remember, Doogie and Goldilocks should be home today so expect them to pick up the kid later tonight or in the morning."
Luke laughed, "I understand why you call Chris, Doogie. But why call Katie, Goldilocks? She's your best friend."
Reid shrugged, "It's something I started calling her after I first moved in with her. It just sort of stuck. Easier then remembering names."
"It's a good thing you didn't decide to become a teacher then. I don't think the students would like to be called names like that."
"Yeah yeah. You're running late, remember?"
"Right. Got to go!" Luke kissed him once more.
Reid finally turned and was heading back into the hospital. He was just at the doors when he heard shouting behind him.
"Luciano!"
Reid turned around to see a guy walking at a very fast pace towards Luke. Luke didn't turn around. He just opened his car door and was about to get in when the guy shouted again.
"Luciano!"
Reid watched Luke stop and turn around. As he did, the guy was right behind him. Next thing he knew, there was a knife and Luke was pushed up against his car and stabbed repeatedly.
"Hey!" Reid started running back to the car.
The guy turned and saw him. He dropped the knife and bolted. Reid ran to Luke, who was now on the ground, bleeding out from four different stab wounds. He pulled his lab coat off and laid it over the four wounds the best he could to cover them all and pressed down. He looked down at Luke, who was struggling to breath and keep his eyes open.
"Stay with me, Luke." he almost shouted, "You have to stay awake."
He pulled out his phone. Sure, they were just in the parking lot of the hospital, but there was nobody else around them. He quickly dialed the hospitals number and shouted at whoever picked up that he needed help out in the parking lot. He then hung up and looked back at Luke.
"Hey, stay awake." he patted Luke on the cheek.
"Reid!"
Reid opened his eyes and looked around. He didn't know he had fallen asleep. Looking over to where Luke was laying, the space was now empty.
"He's sitting on the couch listening to music again."
Reid looked to the doorway. Katie was standing there with Jacob in her arms. He ran his hands over his face as he sat up and got out of bed. He looked at the clock. It was running on ten in the morning.
"When did you get here?" he asked
"About an hour ago."
"Was he up when you got here?"
"Yeah, why?"
"Do you know how long he's been up?"
"He said he woke up about five."
Reid laughed, "Damn it. He did it again."
"Did what again?" Katie asked, walking into the room more.
"I found him in the living room around three this morning. Told him he needed to get some sleep. We didn't get back to bed until about four thirty."
"So?"
"He's having troubles sleeping." he told her, "Whenever he closes his eyes he sees that knife and all the blood that he lost. He's afraid to sleep and instead of waking me up and telling me, he just sits in the living room, blaring his music to keep himself awake."
"How do you know he's purposely not waking you up?"
"Katie, he's been out of the hospital for three days. I've been with him every night since, no matter what. The first night I woke up and found him in the living room. I didn't say anything because I thought maybe he was just waiting to fall back to sleep. The night before was the same thing and then again last night."
"Do you know if he's talked to his therapist about this?"
Reid shrugged, "Listen. Could you stay with him for a couple of hours. I have to do something. I promise I'll be back as soon as I can."
"Sure, no problem."
"Thank you." he kissed her cheek before going into the bathroom to change.
When he walked into the living room, Luke was sitting just like he was when Reid first found him with his laptop in hand and iPod blaring into his ears. He walked up behind him and pulled them out just as he did earlier that morning.
"Turn the music down." he told him, "Katie is going to stay with you for a couple of hours."
"Where are you going?"
"I have some errands to run."
"I'll go with you!"
"No, just stay here and rest." Reid kissed him, "Sleep!"
Luke grumbled but didn't say anything. Reid grabbed his phone and keys, "Call if something happens."
Katie nodded from the kitchen were she was fixing Luke something to eat. Reid took one more look at Luke before leaving the apartment. Once he was gone Luke was about to go back to his music but Katie sat down on the couch next to him and took his iPod away.
"Talk to me." she looked at him with concern, "Reid says you've been keeping yourself awake so you don't have nightmares about what happened."
"It's nothing Katie. Really. I'm fine."
"Luke. I'm your aunt. We're family. Talk to me."
Luke took a deep breath, "All those nights at the hospital after I came out of surgery. All I would dream about is what had happened. Like I told Reid, at Memorial I had no choice but to sleep because of the drugs but here." he paused, "Here I can decide when I want to sleep, if at all. I don't want to keep dreaming about what happened."
"Have you told the therapist about this?"
"She wants to administer sleeping pills."
"You refused?"
"Yes, because then I wouldn't have a choice. Reid would make me take them just like he made me take them at the hospital."
"It's not a bad thing Luke. Maybe if you slept more, the nightmares of that day will just stop after a while."
Luke shook his head, "No they wont."
Katie patted his arm, "I think you should at least try. Reid is really worried about you, Sweetie. He's getting upset that whenever you wake up from one of those nightmares that you don't wake him up so he can help you."
"I don't wake him up because he needs his sleep for the hospital."
"You're the one hurt and healing and you're still thinking about everyone else before yourself." Katie smiled, "You need to think of yourself first this time, Honey. Reid wants to help you, let him."
Two hours later, Reid was back with something from the pharmacy. Luke was laying down in the bedroom again. Katie was curled up on the couch watching TV. Jacob was in the playpen that Luke and Reid kept just for him whenever they watched him.
"Is he asleep?" Reid asked walking into the kitchen.
Katie turned the TV off and followed him, "Yeah. He fell back to sleep about a half hour ago. What did you get at the pharmacy? Sleeping pills?"
"Anything to help him. That is if he'll let me."
"I'm sure he will now." Katie told him, "We had a nice talk while you were gone."
"Thank you, again."
"You're welcome." she kissed his cheek, "Now I should get back home with Jacob."
"We'll see you for dinner on Saturday?"
"Of course." she smiled before picking up Jacob and leaving.
Reid pulled a water from the fridge and just took a sip when he heard Luke scream from the bedroom. He sat the water on the counter and rushed into the room. He walked around the bed to Luke's good side. Luke was up on his elbows and his eyes wide opened. He was sweating and looked like he was having troubles breathing from the way he was sitting up on the bed.
"Hey, what's wrong?" Reid sat down on the bed and placed his hands on Luke's shoulders, gently pushing him back down onto his back.
"Same thing that's been wrong all week." Luke mumbled
"Katie told me you've been asleep for at least a half hour?"
Luke nodded, "That seems like the most I get at a time."
"At least it's some sleep." Reid took his hand, "Listen, I went and got you some sleeping pills."
Luke was about to argue but Reid continued, "Just listen." he told him, "I will not make you take them every night but you should take them to get some sleep. And I've already told you, I'll be right here. And if it's during the day that you want to sleep, Katie will be here."
Luke, whose mouth was open to protest, quickly closed it and nodded.
"So, do you want to take two right now and try and get some more sleep or are you going to stay up and watch me read more medical journals?"
"I'll take the sleeping pills." Luke whispered
"Good choice." Reid got off the bed.
He disappeared from the room for a minute before returning with two pills and his water. He handed them both to Luke while he settled into bed next to him with a medical journal, as well as a few of his patient medical files. Luke handed him the water and settled back down after swallowing the pills, snuggling right up against Reid's side and closed his eyes to try and sleep again. Reid watched him until his breathing evened out and he was asleep, before he started reading.