It was Saturday morning in Oakdale, Illinois and around town there was a general feeling that things were normal and all were happy and satisfied with their lives. No one was quite sure why the town felt unusually calm this morning, but the sentiment of perfection was there nevertheless.
It was no different in the small apartment where the doctor and his lover lay sleeping in bed, tangled up in the sheets and each other. Their feet poked out from the ends of the covers, crisscrossed together, one of Luke's sandwiched between both of Reid's, one of Reid's sandwiched between Luke's. Reid's arm was draped over Luke's waist, Luke's back pressed very close to Reid's chest. The sunlight shining in the window hit the doctor's face and his eyes fluttered open. Reid smiled a little smile when he saw the blonde lying so near to him. It had been a month since they had first had sex, but Reid still sometimes needed to remind himself that it had happened; it had always seemed to him that something always prevented them from consummating their love, and that something always would. Smiling at the memory, Reid lightly trailed kisses down the back of Luke's neck and shoulder.
"Mmm," Luke moaned and stretched his neck to allow Reid more access to kiss it. Reid happily acquiesced.
Luke opened his eyes and shuffled himself so that he turned around under Reid's arm in order to face the older man. He looked at Reid for a few seconds and then smashed their lips together. It was a feverish, hungry kiss that took Reid's breath away.
"What was that for?" Reid asked when they had broken apart.
"You're alive!" Luke said, throwing his arms around Reid's neck and snuggling close to him.
"I should hope so," Reid said, bewildered. "Are you okay?"
"I had the most horrible dream," Luke said, pulling away from Reid slightly so he could look at him, but rested his hand on the doctor's face and running his fingers through his hair.
"You did look kind of distressed," Reid said. "What was the dream?"
Luke hesitated before saying, "You died."
"I'm sorry?" Reid asked, not quite sure he had heard Luke correctly.
"In my dream you had died," Luke clarified. "Tom and Margo had found Chris a donor heart in Bay City. But one of the doctors there decided to take the heart for one of his own patients. You got all high-and-mighty and went off to get the heart back." Here Luke stopped, the remembrance of what happened next in his dream paining him. Reid looked at him in anticipation. Luke took a deep breath and continued, "But your car stalled on the train tracks just outside Bay City and…and you didn't get out of the car on time. Tom and Margo were called to the scene and had you brought to Memorial. Bob said they couldn't save you even though you didn't look like you were dying to me." Luke's voice jumped an octave. "You knew you were dying though because you told me to make sure your heart was given to Chris and you gave me Power-of-Attorney. I told you I loved you and begged you not to die. But you flat lined when I kissed you!" Luke's voice cracked and he put his head on the doctor's chest, listening to his heart beat just to make sure that this moment in bed was the reality.
"That was a very elaborate dream," Reid said, hugging Luke tightly and kissing the top of his head.
"It was awful. The pain of losing you was suffocating. It was such a realistic dream, Reid," Luke said, still listening to his lover's heart. "It felt like it lasted for months."
"Dreams tend to do that," Reid said. "It's the way the brain is wired. Sensors pull things from our lives and create new situations. Because we recognize things from reality, dreams seem and feel real."
Luke laughed and put his head back on his pillow. "Only you, Reid, could take something emotional and turn it sciency."
Reid smiled and stroked Luke's cheek. Luke closed his eyes, savoring the feel of Reid's skin against his. After a few moments, Luke sighed and said, "It was so scary!"
"Hey! Look at me," Reid said. Luke opened his eyes. "I'm not planning on going anywhere. For some reason I've actually grown to like this dump of a town. So as much as I hate it, I'm here to stay." Reid kissed Luke in conformation of what he had just said.
"After I moved in here yesterday, you better be," Luke said when they had broken apart.
"That's right. You did move in here, didn't you?" Reid said, smiling. He had quite forgotten that fact amidst the talk of Luke's dream.
"Yes, I did." Luke smiled and shuffled himself so that he was lying on the edge of his pillow, his body pressed close to Reid's. "And I don't want to lose you. Ever."
"I can't promise you that," Reid said, honest as always. "And neither can you, even if I want you to."
"I know," Luke said, once again running his fingers through Reid's hair while his other hand slipped into Reid's. "But how about we make a promise to try?"
"To try and live forever?" Reid asked.
"No. To try and live as long as each other. Something I learned from my dream was that I don't ever want to live a day without you here by my side. I love you more than I thought was possible. I don't know if I found that out from the dream or if I knew it before, but I know it now. You are the love of my life, Dr. Oliver. I don't know how it happened, but it did happen. So will you promise to try?"
It took Reid a few seconds before he could answer the man lying beside him. Hearing that he was the love of Luke's life – after so long of hearing that Noah held that place in his heart – was the most amazing thing he had ever heard and he needed a moment to process it. When the confession had registered in his brain, Reid said, "I think I can promise that."
"Good," Luke said. "Now, do you want breakfast?" But Luke knew that was silly question to ask for Reid was always hungry, so he started to get out of bed without waiting for an answer.
"Wait," Reid said, grabbing Luke's hand and pulling him back into the bed.
"What?"
"Did you mean what you just said?"
"What?"
"That I'm the love of your life?"
Luke looked into Reid's beautiful blue eyes and said, "Yes."
Reid smiled almost incomprehensibly and said, "Then I thought you should know that you're the love of my life, too."
Luke smiled widely, kissed Reid, and completely forgot about breakfast.