Reid sat staring at Luke as if he had two heads, shocked tremendously that Luke had actually commanded him to do something.

He looked up into Luke's eyes to see his beautiful brown eyes flashing with fire and anger. With his nostrils, flaring and breathing heavily, Luke took a step closer to Reid.

Reid who was becoming incredibly uncomfortable with the state of their undress pushed himself off the bed and stood toe to toe with his nemesis, Mr. Luke Snyder.

To his surprise however, Luke did not flinch, step back, or break his eye contact. Instead, Luke stood up straighter and pushed Reid back onto the bed.

Reid grabbed Luke's wrist as he was falling back and managed to pull Luke over him.

Both men froze in surprise at the position they happened to be in at the moment.

Both men stared into each other's eyes. Luke saw the brilliant blue of Reid's cornea and felt the heat and grasp of Reid's fingertips on his wrist.

Both men were breathing heavily with a mix of anger, tension, adrenaline, and lust.

The silence was finally broken when Reid said,

"Do you mind getting off me?"

Reid's words snapped Luke out of his haze.

"You were the one pulled me on you."

"Yeah, well I wasn't expecting you to push me back on the bed."

Luke straightened up and Reid released Luke's wrist.

Both men stared at each other for a few seconds before Luke ran his hand through his hair and finally stepped back.

"Look, it's clear you aren't going to actually listen to anything I have to say. You are without a doubt the most arrogant, self-absorbed, egotistical, narcissistic jackass I have ever met. You say remarkably cruel things to me and then you turn around and kiss me?!?!??! Who does that? Who is nice to someone one second and then a complete and utter asshole the next? And anytime, God forbid, I try to be nice to you, you completely shut down. What the hell is wrong with you?"

"Why do you even care, Mr. Snyder? Didn't you take the hint all those times that I simply really and truly don't like you?"

"Well when someone slips me tongue, I tend to believe they don't hate me as much as they want me to believe."

"Yeah, well that was only a mix of alcohol and adrenaline. It was a mistake."

"Clearly."

"I think you reaction to it says you didn't really mind all that much."

"Yeah, well I don't make it a habit to kiss douche bags more than once."

Reid laughed heartily at that statement and said,

"I don't think you know what the term douche bag really means, considering you kissed Noah for years."

"You unbelievable jackass. You have no fucking clue about my relationship with Noah."

"I know that you were willing to do anything, including blackmail, in order for Noah to get his eyesight back. And what does he do? He breaks up with you, demanding independence and time alone. And instead of embracing your love, support, and help, he pushes you away. In all my years as a neurosurgeon, I've never seen anyone do that. "

Reid clears his throat and continues,

"And guess what, I do know about the epic relationship that is Luke and Noah. I mistakenly asked Katie once why Noah would do that to you, and she regaled me with your entire life story and love life. So even as much as I wish I didn't. I learned all about your first crush not being that into you, and trying to help Noah be out and proud, then having to share your gay lover with a straight woman with some issues of her own, Noah's crazy dad trying to kill you, well I don't really feel bad for that one, your 'experimenting' stepgrandaddy trying to seduce you, the whole debacle with those weird kids, and the big bad professor putting the moves on the love of your life. How did I do, for not knowing anything about your relationship?"

Luke's face changed from stunned astonishment to an inquisitive look for a few seconds before he responded,

"The better question is why do you care about my relationship with Noah?"

"I really truly don't. But as much as you annoy me and I wish you would just leave me alone, I know what it's like to be with someone for a very long time and be heartbroken when they move on with someone new. It's hell."

"You saw that?"

"If you mean if I saw Noah and his doppelganger on their date, yeah I did. I figured you only decided to go on this trip to get it off your mind."

"I won't lie and say that it didn't have something to do with seeing Noah on a date, but I also happened to want to help you with the case."

"Yeah, I know. For Noah. So I can cure his eyesight and then he'll be all, Praise the Lord, hallelujah, I can see!!!, and you'll run slow motion into each other's arms and it will be an epic reunion and you'll celebrate your anniversary 50 years later and forget all about the rough times."

"Noah isn't the only reason I do things, Reid."

"Well, enlighten me on your other do-gooder reasons, Mr. Sny—Luke"

"As poorly as you treat me, you have moments of humanness and decency. They are fleeting and far between, but when you are not pissing me off, you are very intriguing and complex. And believe it or not, I don't hate you. Shocking, I know. The less I find myself hating you, the more I find myself curious about what makes you tick and why you do what you do."

"I'm not a psychology experiment, Luke. I don't need any of your psychobabble and crackpot theories, and if I did, I would not take it from a college dropout."

"You know what? Forget it. I didn't mean it like that and you know it. This conversation is getting us nowhere."

Luke turned to leave the room.

Reid stood up and went over to the dresser. He picked up a bag of chips from the food he bought earlier and tossed it as Luke's turned head.

"Did you just throw a bag of chips at my head?"

"Yeah, figured you might be hungry, but if potato chips aren't up to your high food standards, just leave them."

"Thanks, I guess. Just was not expecting you to throw a bag of chips at my head. Is that your idea of a peace offering?"

"What makes you think would ever offer you a peace offering? Maybe all I really wanted to do was throw something at your head to see if your skull made a hollow sound when it bounced off it."

"Your lack of maturity astounds me."

"Now you know how I feel every time I hear you speak, Mr. Snyder."

"Touché."

Reid and Luke smiled at each other with genuine smiles.

"Thanks for the piece offering, Reid."

"Bite me, Luke."

Luke laughed as he walked into his room and closed the adjoining doors.

Reid grinned and went to get dressed.

Twenty minutes later, he had on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt.

He was looking at the room service menu when he decided what he really wanted was an honest to goodness Texas steak. He picked up his wallet and keycard and headed out of the room.

He walked past Luke's room on the way out of the hotel, but stopped half way between Luke's door and the elevator.

About three minutes later of pacing, led him back to Luke's door. He knocked on the door, thinking this is definitely a mistake.

This time Luke was dressed in jeans a form fitting v-necked t-shirt. His hair was styled and he was looking incredible.

Reid cleared his throat trying to remove the lump that just formed.

"Don't tell me, you locked yourself out of your room again, Reid."

"Funny. Actually, I'm on my way to go get a steak at Texas Land and Cattle. Just wanted to see if you were hungry and wanted to join me."

"Are you asking me out on a date, Reid?"