Chapter 2

Luke couldn't believe that he was finally on his way to London and to be honest, it was perfect timing. He knew that he was over-working himself and with the other things that had been preoccupying his mind, Ben's wedding had bought him his excuse to finally get away and have some time all for himself.

Although he was feeling the excitement and anticipation of finally being able to see Ben after so many years, today's busy day had brought his energy levels right down too. As soon as he was seated on the plane, he grabbed the blanket, draped it over his body and head to block out the light and promptly fell asleep as memories of his past invaded his dreams.

He slept fitfully for all of twenty minutes when he was glad for the slight shifting in the seat on his left hand side which woke him from his light slumber. He shrugged off the blanket, rubbing his eyes and cursing his hair which had decided to misbehave, the static of the blanket hadn't helped. He proceeded to pat his hair down and finally turned to face the stranger next to him and grinned, an involuntary response, part of the sunny disposition which defined Luke Snyder. Luke managed to have a quick glance at the man sitting next to him who was wearing a black button down shirt and black jeans.

He proceeded to apologise for his sudden need to sleep and the man nodded uninterested. For some reason Luke felt the need to introduce himself and keep talking. The man finally turned to face him and introduced himself as Dr. Reid Oliver. They shook hands while Luke tried to ignore the slight chill and spark that he felt penetrate through his spine.

For some reason, he was unable to look away; his eyes were so so blue, like the seas off the coast of the Mediterranean. They appeared to be cold and mean, but to him, they held a strange intensity and he knew in that small moment that there was something very interesting about this man. It wasn't until the man looked down at their joint hands that he realised he had been holding on a little too long. Luke cleared his throat and let go of the beautiful hands that looked as if they had been carved intricately from stone, soft but hard, long fingered hands, 'since when did I have a thing for hands?'.

Luke hastily grabbed the in-flight entertainment magazine in the rack in front of him sent the doctor another smile and proceeded to cringe behind the magazine whilst shielding his face from his neighbour. 'What the hell is wrong with me?'

Reid closed his eyes for a few moments hoping that somehow sleep would overtake him and magically transport him to his destination, but he knew that until he was in London and off this flying sardine can, he probably wouldn't be able to get even a minute of sleep. He looked back down and turned to look at the blonde haired kid whose face was hidden behind the magazine.

Reid was brought to attention by an announcement as the pilot informed them that they were about to take off, the flight attendants went through the safety procedures which didn't reassure Reid whatsoever. As the signals for the seatbelt signs were switched on, Reid and Luke both fastened their seatbelts, hands fumbling to find their respective belts, as their hands touched both mumbled their apologies avoiding each other's eyes, each concentrating on different tasks.

Luke trying not to think about the hot doctor sitting next to him, 'hot?', and Reid concentrating on not having a full on panic attack in front of a whole group of strangers.

As the plane started its ascent into the sky, Luke put his magazine on his lap and looked out of the window, watching New York turn into a bright sea of lights. As soon as the plane had reached the altitude necessary, the seatbelt signs were switched off, followed by the sound of seatbelts snapping open.

Luke looked away from the window and noticed that the doctor seemed too still sitting next to him. He saw that the doctor's hands were gripping the armrests a little too hard, knuckles almost turned white as they curved around the front.

As Luke's eyes found Reid's face, he could see that he was sweating profusely, his eyes were closed leaning back on the headrest, and Luke could hear him mumbling something under his breath.

"Dr. Oliver...Dr. Oliver?" Luke asked leaning slightly forward, towards him trying to get the redhead's attention.

"Are you okay, Dr. Oliver?", placing his hand on the doctors shoulder, shaking him slightly to get his attention.

The doctor took a deep breath and turned to face Luke, "I am fine, Mr. Simpson, just leave me alone", Reid snapped with eyes blazing, "...just because we exchanged names, it does not mean that you have to try and keep a conversation going, I don't do small talk, especially with strangers, so please, just leave me alone and go back to reading your magazine or whatever", as he pushed Luke's hand off of his shoulder. Luke found it hard to believe how blue eyes so cold could bear so much intensity and anger.

Luke took his hand back placed it in his lap and looked at the doctor one last time who was back to his prior position. Luke knew that there was something the doctor was hiding and he decided that he was going to help no matter what.

"By the way, it's Snyder and you need to calm down, you shouting at me, is not going to make this journey any easier!"

Reid took another deep breath and unbuttoned the three top buttons of his shirt, trying to let some air circulate to ease the heat he was feeling from within trying to ignore the incessant sound droning next to him. He took a napkin out of his pocket and wiped his brow, face and around his neck.

"Dr. Oliver, do you have a phobia of planes?"

"No, of course not, don't be ridiculous, if I had a phobia of planes what the hell would I be doing in one?", scoffed Reid negating his statement by wiping his brow and closing his eyes.

Luke looked at Reid with curiosity, "Well, your reaction is one consistent with someone who seems to be afraid or anxious about something, and it seems to me that you may need some help and..."

Reid interrupted sharply holding his hand in front of Luke, "You're a doctor now are you? Just leave me alone Mr. Snyder, ok?"

At this point the doctor's breathing had become erratic and if it was possible he was sweating even more. It suddenly clicked in Luke's mind what Dr. Oliver was going through.

"Wow, Dr. Oliver, you are seriously claustrophobic aren't you?", Luke enquired.

"No, I...I...I just...I just don't like tight spaces", the doctor stammered while wiping his brow and taking another deep breath.

"Ok wow, you finally admitted it, thank you for your honesty!"

Reid glared at Luke and Luke smiled his infuriating smile back at him. Reid was right, this kid was making his journey worse, and 'Why can't he just stop talking?'
Luke was enjoying winding and riling the doctor up, he couldn't explain why, but he hadn't had this much fun with someone for a long time, there was just something about this man.

"Oh ok, well don't worry. I wouldn't dare bug you out, I mean, imagine if the plane started shaking and then one of the engines blew up", Luke's voice turning deeper and more dramatic by the second while the doctor became more anxious, shaking his head in denial, trying not to listen, "...and then the plane started falling faster and faster while the plane becomes smaller and smaller..."

"Stop...stop it's not funny", Reid said in between breaths as they became more and more frantic, his imagination going into overdrive.

"Oh, I think it's hilarious!", Luke laughing at the expression on Reid's face.

Reid suddenly in grips of unknown fear and anger grabbed the blonde's shirt collars with both hands and brought his face near to his, shaking him, "Do you want us to be smashed to pieces? Stop it!"

Luke could feel the doctor's harsh and fast breaths hitting his face, he looked down at his lips as his tongue flicked out to lick his own, "Wow, your phobia is pretty extreme", Luke whispered as puffs of air hit the redhead's face.

Reid, noticing his proximity and the way in which Luke's breathing had started to match his own, backed off, dropping his hands, "You want to me to admit that as a doctor, that I'm somehow capable of being a human and have flaws too, would that make your day Mr. Snyder?".

"Well it would be a start", Luke answered unable to look away.

The doctor was still feeling nervous and the added dramatics from his neighbour had not helped his situation, "Well, I'm sure that this will make for a great story wherever you go, a doctor who cracks up in confined spaces", laughed Reid wryly.

"Why would I tell anyone about this?"

Reid looked at Luke with surprise, he was sure that he saw something there more than concern and believed that he most certainly wouldn't tell anyone but batted the thought out of his mind, this guy seemed like a brat and his idiotic antics had stressed him out even more. Just thinking about the scenario the blonde kid had played out increased his breathing rate again, he felt as if he was almost on the verge of having a full blown panic attack.

Luke noticed the doctor's increasing breathing rate and took a hold of his arm lightly, "Hey, hey, don't freak out again, just look at me", Reid was surprised to feel the warmth of the blonde's hand on his arm he looked down and back up into Luke's big, deep chocolate brown eyes, 'Wait, what? Chocolate?', However his breathing immediately began to calm down but his sharp tongue got the better of him, "Oh okay, fine yeah, no problem", the doctor retorted whilst wiping his brow again.

Luke saw the doctor still wasn't quite as calm as he should be and gripped his arm a little tighter, "Alright, umm, Dr. Oliver, you need to focus, think about some place you like, some place you feel safe..."

"Where did you pick up this load of crap? From magazines at your dentist's office?"

"Well, does it matter if it works?"

Luke was starting to feel a little frustrated at the doctor's annoying habit to interrupt and to have the last say.

"Yeah, well it's just bogus pop psychology", Reid answered.

"Yeah, well, have you got anything better to do? It's not like you can leave the plane now, we still have a few hours left on the flight, it might just work", Luke smiled softly.

"Okay, okay", the redhead spoke in hushed tones, waved his hand, squeezing his eyes shut and pinching the bridge of his nose, "I have a place".

"Okay, so what is it?"

Reid hesitated slightly; Luke narrowed his eyes, "Come on, Dr. Oliver, what's the place you're thinking of?"

The doctor sighed, "It's the brain".

"The brain?", laughed Luke, "Why the brain?"

"Look, Mr. Snyder, are you going to help me or are you going to keep me asking these inane questions? If I had told you it was this green meadow with tadpoles and dancing cows, you wouldn't have believed me, so..."

"Okay, okay, no more questions except this last one, umm is it any brain in particular?"

"No no, each one is different they're all amazing though, it's this tangled mass of grey spaghetti, it's totally alien, it's so much to look at with the naked eye but it makes us walk and talk, think, remember, smell...", Reid paused and took a breath, "...love, it produced the Sistine Chapel, chocolate, theory of relativity, Godfather Parts one and two, not so sure about three, but, what?", Reid looked over at Luke who seemed to be listening intently but grinning at the same time.

As the doctor had talked, Luke noticed the underlying passion he had for this particular subject. He wasn't entirely sure why the brain seemed to be his comforting place of choice, but being a doctor, it may have been something of interest to him. He noticed as he spoke how tapered and perfect his jaw line was, how the curls on his forehead were damp with sweat and he was almost wishing he could push them back with his own hands. He longed to feel that sort of innate passion and interest for his work and that maybe at some point in his life; it became his comforting place too.

"It's working", the blonde grinned with his dimples in full force.

"Yeah, okay, I feel better", the doctor smiled a quick smile in gratitude which Luke would have missed had he not been watching the doctor. Reid noticed that his breathing rate had calmed down although he hadn't realised how good it had felt that the blonde had been rubbing his forearm with his thumb the whole time while he had babbled, it actually had felt quite comforting, 'oh shit, I babbled'.

Luke smiled back, "Do you want me to get you some water or something?"

"No, no, I'm fine", Reid answered whilst undoing his seatbelt. Luke hadn't realised that he had absent mindedly been rubbing soothing circles with his thumb on the doctor's arm; he lifted his hand off of his arm and looked up as the doctor left his seat.

Luke watched the doctor walk away, rubbing his hand through those auburn curls, in those jeans.

'Fuck', Luke groaned leaning forward pushing the heels of his hands into his eyes, 'He isn't even gay!'