A/N: I have nothing to complain about *shrugs* Oh yeah! I got me Tumblr, same name coz it's just easier that way.
Notes:
I'm pretty sure Ravi was much older when he was adopted by the Ross', but for the sake of the story, let's say he was adopted at a much younger age.
Dedication:to Westeast
Shout_Outs:
mttmercado: I'ms sorry :(
QuickerDraw: Just breathe, it's cool, just relax. Um... Luke will be fine, he'll be okay.
kittykat202: He'll be all right... I think. Sorry the updates like 2 months late :(, writers block and life in general are a pain in my A-Hole.
Naughty Jesus: *hehe* I know all about accidently pressing 'post' button, I do it all the time... Anywhoo... I'm glad you liked it :). Sorry the updates late, but hope you like it.
perpatuators: Even me I almost cried! So I'm guessing that's a win? So yeah, here's an update for you :).
spies 12: Aaaw *blushes* thank you :). Here's an update for you, hope you enjoy it.
Update: Sorry it's late, but here it is :).
coco1987: I am, just had a bit of brain blockage, I'm back now *fist pump*. Um... Well uh... Ooh... kay? Well I mean, you know, sort of *hides under bed*.
Guest::D, thank you very much. Even I don't know how I did that. But I suppose I just kinda based it on how I'd feel if it happened and tried to transfer those emotions into words... And it worked! :)))
Nyanartist2201: Here's an update, please enjoy :).
emijonks2000: Not as soon as I would've liked, but here you go :).
Run: Thank you, here's the next one.
Lilyevans: Luke's all right... hopefully. Here's a new one, enjoy.
Max: (chapter 1) Thank you.
Naughty Jesus: Sorry :(, here you go!
4ever with Kames: Welcome :).. Thank you. I'd love to read your stories, I'll definitely be reading your stories :)), I love reading so it's no problem at all :). Oh Luke'll be... um... he'll be okay? Luke will go on vacation with everyone as planned, but you know, it'll be postponed. Hope you enjoy this new chapter too :).
Disclaimer: No!
To Have Your Arms Around Me…
"I don't care if it's not right/ To have your arms around me/ I want to feel what it's like/ to take all of you inside of me…"
— Madonna, Forbidden Love
""
Luke slowly woke from a dreamless sleep. He was feeling pretty worn out and he had a slight headache forming at the back of his eyes. He could clearly smell disinfectant and other hospital scents that made him feel even sicker than he already was. Why the hell was he in a hospital anyway?
The teen let out a low groan as he tried to open his eyes. The light hit harshly at his eyes causing an even worse headache to form. Luke shielded his eyes from the blinding light, hissing in pain as he looked away.
"Luke?" It was Christina's soft voice that brought Luke's attention back to the room. "Sweetheart, are you all right?" Luke opened an eye, looking to his mother who looked quite dishevelled. It surprised Luke to see his mother this way, she was usually so clean and made up and ready for the runway. She was always so picture perfect.
"Mom?" Luke croaked out. Christina pulled Luke into a hug and sighed in relief. Luke held onto his mother's arm for a moment, breathing in her familiar scent. He'd been getting a lot of hugs from her lately, and the teen couldn't say he minded, because he loved his mother's soft, gentle hugs.
"You scared us half to death, sweetheart."
"Sorry…" Christina nodded, sitting back down on the padded hospital chair. "What happened?"
"You had a nightmare and when you woke up had a panic attack. You scared the heck out of me. I thought you were dying or something." Christina blinked back tears, breathing deeply before taking her son's hand. "The doctor said you'd be okay. They just want to keep you over night and make sure you don't have another attack."
Luke felt horrible for freaking his mother out like that. He couldn't exactly remember what it was he'd been dreaming about, and considering how he'd reacted to the dream, he really didn't want to remember. The teen let out a sigh, holding his mother's hand in reassurance and said, "I'm fine, mom."
Christina nodded, though not looking convinced. "Well the doctor just wants to make sure that everything is okay."
"Mom—"
"You could've died, Luke!"
"I doubt that," Luke muttered but his mother heard him anyway. The woman let out a sigh, with her free hand wiping at the tears that threatened to fall.
"Luke…."
Luke sighed but didn't argue with his mother. "All right, mom. So what's going to happen with the trip?"
"We're going to leave as soon as the doctor says it's okay for you to fly, I don't want to take any chances."
"I'm fine though."
"It's just to make sure that you're all right. Please don't argue about this."
"I'm fine, mom, I promise."
"Let the doctors determine that, okay?"
Another sigh left Luke's lips but he nodded. He wouldn't argue, if only to ease his mother's fears. He'd really never seen her like this, even during her most stressful shows. And the fact that she was still only in her pyjamas showed Luke even more that Christina was worried. She didn't even seem to care that she was only in her pyjamas and her hair was flying out of what she called her 'sleeping bun'.
"Your dad, sisters and brother will come over during visiting hours to see how you are. They all freaked out when they found out you were here, they wanted to come during the night but Morgan and I convinced them that you were all right and that it would be better for them to see you this morning, when you were actually awake."
Luke nodded, swallowing hard. The mention of the others—specifically his brother—brought back slight portions of his dream from last night now. He didn't want to think about it, didn't want to freak out about it, not now, not in front of his mother. He kept telling himself that it was a dream, a really bad dream and that was all. He'd get over it, like he'd eventually get over his sick, twisted feelings for Ravi. It would all pass.
"You want something to drink?" Christina asked, cutting into Luke's berating thoughts. The teen looked at his mother and she smiled at him. "I don't think they'll let you have anything besides water, but what they don't know hopefully won't hurt you." Christina smiled impishly at her son, wriggling her eyebrows. Luke snorted but it ended up as a laugh. Christina laughed too, glad to know that Luke was okay. The blonde woman handed her son a cup of orange juice and Luke gulped it down quickly.
"Thanks." Christina nodded, taking the tumbler and placing it on the bedside table. A nurse came in and checked Luke's vitals, nodding and smiling at him and his mother, assuring Christina that everything was all right with her son.
Half an hour later, Dr Patel walked into the room with a soft smile on her face. For a doctor who mostly worked in the ER, she sure seemed sweet and not as stressed as other doctors who worked in the Emergency Room. Her smile widened ever so slightly when she found Luke and Christina smiling.
"Good morning, Mr Ross," Dr Patel said, her smile ever present as she picked up Luke's charts.
"Morning," Luke replied.
"How are you feeling this morning? You gave everyone quite a scare last night." Dr Patel looked through Luke's charts and nodded. "Everything looks good. I don't want to put you on medication because this was your first attack, but I worry if it'll happen again."
"I'm okay," Luke lied. He didn't want this to become a huge thing. He wasn't sure if he'd have another attack someday, but he didn't want to think about it, think about why he even had the attack in the first place.
"We can't be sure about that, Mr Ross. I would recommend some form of counselling which could help find out what caused the attack in the first place."
"I know what caused the attack," Luke thought bitterly, but he nodded, if only to stop his mother and Dr Patel from worrying and nagging. "Will it be okay for me to fly?"
"Fly?"
"We were supposed to be going on a family vacation later today," Christina explained, finally fixing her bun, making it look neater.
"That's absolutely all right. I don't see any reason why he shouldn't be able to fly. Are you a nervous flyer?"
"No, I'm used to it," Luke assure.
Dr Patel nodded. "Then it shouldn't be a problem. I think it's best that you rest up for at least another day before flying though, just to be on the safe side."
Christina nodded, agreeing with the doctor whole–heartedly. She wanted to make absolutely certain that her baby was okay. She did not want to ever go through the stress of watching one of her children go through what Luke went through. She didn't want to ever feel that helpless ever again.
"Well, I'll leave you two alone." Dr Patel nodded at the pair then left the room. Christina and Luke were quite for a moment before Christina broke the silence.
"Since I'm sure you're okay, I think I'll head home and have a shower and make myself more presentable." Luke nodded. "Are you going to be all right while I'm gone?"
"It's only a few hours mom," Luke said. "Don't worry about me. I'll be fine." The blonde woman looked at her son carefully before nodding.
"All right, sweetheart. I'll see you later." Christina got up and kissed her son's head before leaving the room.
Luke let out a huff of air, laying back on his bed. It wasn't very long before he was alseep.
—
When the teen woke again he could hear Zuri, Emma and Jesse talking quitely. The brunet opened an eye and peeked out, finding the three girls looking at something on Emma's tablet. Luke cleared his throat to get their attention.
"Luke!" the girls cried, all moving forward to hug the boy. Luke smiled, hugging his sisters and nanny back.
"What the hell happened to you?" Emma asked, taking her brother's hand and holding it tightly. "When dad told us that you were taken here, we all freaked out."
"I'm fine," Luke assured, though he wasn't, not yet.
"Seriously though, don't ever do anything like that again! You don't know how stressed we were. And then mom said we should come in the morning during visiting hours. I couldn't even sleep after hearing you were in the hospital."
"Sorry I scared you." Emma nodded, kissing her brother's head. She looked nervously at him, her head tilted slightly, examining him. Luke was sure she was doing her psych evaluation thing on him—she'd taken a course in college and now thought she was a pro, maybe she was good-ish at it.
"I'm going to call Rosie, let her know you're okay." Luke nodded and allowed Emma to leave the room. Jesse and Zuri sat down on either side of the bed, looking at Luke. The teen sighed, looking from his nanny to his sister before looking down at his hands.
"What?" he asked.
"Do you want to talk about it?" Jesse asked. She didn't know what 'it' was, but she still wanted to help.
"I'm okay, really. It was just a bad dream." Jesse nodded, though not looking convinced. Nobody believed Luke when he said he was okay, it was obvious that he wasn't. There was something wrong and they wanted to know so they could help him. But Luke couldn't tell them, he wouldn't.
"So did you know if you eat a polar bear liver, you will die because humans can't handle that much vitamin A," Zuri broke the silence that had befallen the room. Jessie looked at Zuri as though she'd lost her mind.
"Where the heck did you learn that?" the currently auburn haired woman asked.
"The internet. You can find everything and anything on the internet." Zuri gave Luke a pointed look.
Okay, now Luke really wondered if Zuri knew.
At first he'd been paranoid, thinking it was probably just his imagination. Zuri had large eyes naturally and maybe the only reason he thought she was giving him 'a look' was because he felt guilty. But now he was sure Zuri knew. Why else would she look at him like that, why would she stress the 'everything and anything' in her last sentence?
There was really only one conclusion to this. Zuri knew. Plain and simple! Else why would she mention the internet? She knew!
"There are a lot of wonderfully weird things on the web."
"Yes, some things that you should not have access to." Zuri only rolled her eyes.
"Whatever. I'm old enough to know things."
"Of course you are Zuri..." The pair continued to talk while Luke listened, sometimes adding into their conversation but mostly just listening.
Bertram came in for a few minutes, faking that he wasn't worried about Luke, telling the teen how happy he was that Luke wasn't home, "Everything's cleaner," the large man had said.
Morgan and Christina came in for the last twenty minutes of visiting hours. They told Luke that the trip would be postponed to the next day, and that Dr Patel said it would be all right for him to leave the hospital, get home and change and they'd be able to leave. Luke nodded, glad that he wouldn't have to do the whole 'rest for a day' thing. He didn't want to be here anymore.
Visiting hours came to an end and the family came in to say their goodbyes to Luke, promising they'd be back later on to see him. Luke nodded, smiling tightly as everyone took turns hugging him and saying goodbye, then leaving the room.
When everyone was gone Luke let out a sigh, lying back on the bed and shutting his eyes. Everyone had come in to see him, everyone but Ravi. Luke wouldn't blame the guy if he didn't come at all. The brunet had been nothing but mean to Ravi, he didn't deserve to have Ravi worrying about him.
Luke blinked back tears as he curled away from the door, facing the bed. Lunch would be starting soon, but Luke wasn't hungry. Instead the teen opted to try get some sleep.
—
When Luke came too, the first thing he noted was someone shuffling on a chair behind him. He was going to turn his head when his senses cleared enough for him to notice that all too familiar brand of deodorant. It was Ravi!
The raven–head's hand was close. Luke could feel the tips of Ravi's fingers brush against his arm ever so often. The brunet was fighting the urge to shiver from the feather touches. Luke didn't want his brother to know he was awake.
"Hey bro," Ravi said quietly. "Sorry I couldn't come in this morning. I had a test I couldn't get out of. I tried to postpone it, but my professor wouldn't let me, have to keep up my marks and attendance if I want to keep my spot for that special internship next month."
Ravi fell silent, his fingers touched Luke's arm more deliberately before moving away. The raven–head sighed and Luke was sure he was chewing on his bottom lip. It was one of those things about Ravi that Luke found extremely attractive for absolutely no reason. There were pages of things Luke found attractive, most of them stupid little things.
"Hey, remember when we were seven and we decided we wanted to visit the Mall of America." Luke did remember it. "We saved up like a fifty dollars each and we thought it was like a million bucks. You even planned on buying the entire mall." Ravi chuckled quietly.
Luke wanted to laugh too, but refrained from doing so. He remembered how he thought he was a millionaire because of all those one dollar bills he had in his pile of cash. The pair had dedicated all their time to make that money, it had taken well over a month to put together their fifty dollars and they'd been so disappointed when they found that the Mall of America wasn't anywhere near their house and that even if it had been, they wouldn't have been able to buy it—and Luke had really wanted to buy it, for Ravi.
"I miss those days, when we'd scheme nonstop like that. We used to have so much fun…" another sigh escaped Ravi's lips, his hand moving away. Luke stopped himself from moving. "I miss you, Luke. I don't know what's going on with you lately, but please stop. I need my Luke back, I need my best friend back because I don't know how much more of this Luke I can take. Please come back, please be the Luke everyone knows and loves. Please?"
Ravi touched Luke's hand, laying it there for a moment before his fingers curled around the hand, holding it tightly.
"Please come back," the Indian teen whispered.
Luke bit the corner of his lip, fighting back tears. He could still fix things with Ravi, he had to try. He knew now that Ravi didn't hate him, that Ravi missed him. Luke didn't know if he could be the same person he was when he was younger, if he'd be able to act normal around Ravi, but he'd try. Dammit he'd try, if only to have Ravi smile and laugh with him again. Then fine, he'd be Ravi's Luke again.
…TBC…
Woooooow…. That was insanely bad though. I'm so sorry, my muse went dry for a moment :"(. But next chapter will be better hopefully because Luke's leaving the hospital and they're finally going on vacation.
Anywhoo…
(",)