A/N Warning: Wordy. What can I say? This is longer than some of my AS level essays and it took much less time. Oh well. If there was a degree in LuRe we would all get A*s :D Feedback = 3

Chapter 19

Luke was ridiculously excited about Friday. School broke up early on the last day so he had extra time to visit his mother and his family to let them know where he was going. He hadn't seen Lily in a while. She had continued calling him and trying to visit the farm but Luke had remained evasive. She was treating him differently and he didn't like it one bit. She would act all gushy over the phone and then when she saw him she couldn't meet him in the eye or hug him properly. It made Luke sad for a second until he realised how many other wonderful people he had in his life.

He continued packing and found himself smiling for the first time in months. He had missed feeling excited, he had missed feeling period. He had been so locked up inside himself he didn't realise how much this must have effected the people he cared about. Katie was working with Luke on what had happened that day but he still remained certain the Reid was telling the truth that afternoon.

Luke zipped up the suitcase and watched it bob down the steps behind him. He reached the farm kitchen and he noticed that it was full of people. Emma had invited some of their family over for a dinner and he had to find a way of slipping out without seeming rude. He noticed that Katie was there as well as his mom, dad, grandmother and various other relatives. They were all sitting around the kitchen table and turned around to see Luke closing the door behind him.

'Luke, are you leaving so soon?' Emma asked.

'Yes, Casey's picking me up in,' he checked his watch, 'two minutes.'

'Where are you going?' Katie asked.

'Dallas.' He smiled and looked out of the window as he heard a car horn. He didn't noticed Katie's expression as he waved goodbye to everyone and ran outside.

'Oh god, this could end badly.' Katie thought.

'Snacks?' Casey asked as he drove away from Luke's house.

'Check.' Luke said as he looked through his bag.

'Music.' Luke held up his iPod and attached it to the car.

'Check.'

'Nice clothes?'

'Check. I have a suit and my blue shirt. Fancy enough for Martin Watts?'

'Don't say his name like that! Yes, thank god. I am not going clothes shopping with you again.'

'Come on! It wasn't that bad. I just made you try on some things you didn't like…'

'Luke! That is the biggest understatement of the century!'

They continued to bicker and laugh their way to a hotel that Luke had prebooked.

'You know, dude, sometimes it's really obvious you come from money. Like, seriously obvious.' Luke nudged him.

'Shut up. If it weren't for me and my credit card you'd be staying at that seedy motel down the road.'

'True. It's painfully obvious I should keep you and your credit card around for a while.'

Reid was in a state of permanent apprehension now he had something other than Luke to concentrate on. Martin had sorted out a meeting with an expert on these kinds of cases. A good friend of Martin, apparently. They had arranged to meet the next day because Martin wanted to bring along his new intern.

'Is having this stupid kid hanging on your leg come to the meeting more important to you than my case?'

'It's just a consulting meeting, Reid. This guy is the best but it can wait a day. This kid is good apparently. Very good. So keep that mouth shut during the meeting. I don't want your loosely-veiled insults disrupting either the meeting or the intern's state of mind. Capisci?'

'Fine. Although…'

'Just stop, Reid.'

'Good grief, the next thing you'll be telling me is that he's brought a friend along to keep him company…'

'Actually…'

'Oh my god! What's the friend going to do? Just sit about and twiddle his thumbs while my fate is decided?'

'He's also very smart and wanted to learn something. It doesn't hurt my company to take in two interns instead of one, financially, anyway. So get off your high horse and concentrate on the case and not the interns.' Reid puffed and sat back in the chair, closing his eyes. He waited a beat for what he knew was coming.

'Just make sure you don't shag one of them, this time.' Martin sniggered and Reid got up.

'Right that's it!' Martin continued to laugh as Reid tried to beat him up.

'It. Was. Too. Hard. To. Resist.' Martin said through his laughter.

Luke woke up to find Casey sitting on the side of his twin bed looking at him.

'That's seriously creepy, Case.' He rubbed his eyes, sat up in bed and picked up his watch on the night stand.

'We have to go in half and hour and I know how long you take to get ready! Get up now!' Casey kicked the bed.

'Give me a sec.' Luke said and rubbed his eyes again.

'Luke, I am this close to jumping on you.' Casey pinched his fingers together and left a centimetre gap.

'Do you even realise how homoerotic that sounded?' Luke laughed.

'Just get up will you?' Luke laughed and jumped out of bed.

'And put your suit on. We're sitting in a real meeting today and I want to make a good impression, as do you.' Casey shouted into the bathroom.

He didn't know the extent to the importance of today's meeting but he knew that one of Martin's good friends was appealing his medical license being revoked. It was a big deal; another incredible lawyer was going to be there, Casey assumed he was a specialist on medical cases, and he wanted to be there on time with Luke looking presentable and behaving himself.

He could hear Luke singing loudly in the shower and Casey chuckled to himself. His best friend was back.

Reid and Martin entered into the large glass building where Martin's firm was. It was huge and each footstep on white marble echoed and vibrated against the walls. There were rivers and trees dotted around the reception area. There was even grass. Reid raised an eyebrow at Martin who rolled his eyes at his friend's predictability.

Casey tugged Luke along as he hurried through the reception area of Martin's building. He would have to admire the scenery after he found his way into the conference room, if he could ever find it. Luke was still tired even after his shower and was proceeding to drink copious amounts of coffee to try and get his brain in gear.

Reid hated elevators. Especially glass ones. The floor was glass as were the walls and he felt his face heating up. The elevator hadn't even started moving yet and he was already embarrassing himself. Suddenly a hand gripped the elevator door and pulled it open and a man stepped inside.

'Luke, come on.' Casey said as he held open the elevator door. Luke ran towards him and smiled before entering slowly. They stood in the empty elevator and watched as the opposite elevator rose up and travelled to the top of the building.

'It's so high.' Luke sighed as their elevator, too, began its journey upwards.

'Yes, Luke, it's very high.' Casey nodded and laughed. He adjusted his tie and tried to not look nervous although his hands were slightly shaking. If he could make a good impression over this summer it could mean one day he could work in this heaven.

The man smiled and pressed a button on the control board. Reid grimaced as the elevator travelled up. Thankfully it was a brief ride upwards and he got out as smoothly as possible. He didn't have a panic attack and he was still alive. This day was getting better and better. Martin gripped his shoulder and led him straight ahead into what looked like a conference room. They sat down at one end of the table and Martin started taking his papers out of his briefcase.

He heard a knock at the door and pulled Reid up to come with him to greet the interns. He wanted to talk to them first before Reid's saviour arrived. Reid grudgingly got up and stood slightly behind Martin. The taller man was slightly blocking his view as he opened the door so he stepped slightly to the right of Martin as his friend exchanged handshakes with the first man who he vaguely recognised.

'Ah, Casey Hughes! It's nice to match a face to a voice, finally. Your father and I have worked on a couple of cases together. I hope you will do him proud these following weeks.'

'I hope so too, Mr Watts.' Casey smiled. This was going well. Reid looked at the floor and toed the wooden floor.

'And your friend, sorry you never mentioned your name?' Martin asked the second man.'

'Luke. Luke Snyder.' Reid's head snapped up and Casey laughed in surprise as he finally saw Reid's face.

'Dr Oliver! I didn't know you are the client!' Luke's eyes caught Reid's for a second and then looked away.

Reid felt the entire room shake as if it was strung up to an electrical current. Luke was even more beautiful now than he was six months ago. Casey shook his hand violently and smiled at Martin as they both moved towards the table discussing the case. This left Luke standing inside the door frame refusing to meet Reid's gaze and Reid staring at Luke with his mouth open in shock.

'Luke.' He whispered so softly Luke didn't know whether he had imagined it or not. He looked up and was startled by the intensity of Reid's blue eyes. He had missed Reid so much that his arms shook from holding them back.

Katie believed that Reid still loved Luke so why did Reid say those things to him? Why did he have to break Luke's heart in such a horrible way? He couldn't sit in a room with this man and not cry or get mad and break something and he didn't want to ruin this for Casey.

He removed his eyes from Reid's and turned to Casey and Martin who were now discussing the case, Casey having taken Reid's seat at the end of the table, next to Martin.

'Casey, I'm just going to get some water.' He said and hurried out of the room. He couldn't breathe. He had to get out before he did something embarrassing like burst into tears and ruin Casey's day.

Reid watched Luke walk quickly down the hallway and through another corridor to the right.

'Erm, I need some water too. You guys carry on.' He said distractedly and hurried down in the direction Luke was headed. He saw a door which said 'Kitchen' on the side and he opened the door to find Luke grasping onto the counter and taking deep breaths, looking like he was about to cry. He heard the door open and turned around in shock prepared to explain to one of Martin's colleagues, but instead he saw Reid still standing outside, his hand holding onto the door.

Reid took a deep breath and stepped inside the small kitchen and shut the door behind him.

Katie was in Java catching up on her morning coffee when she saw Lily Snyder sitting at one of the tables reading a newspaper. She was wary about going over but she really needed to talk to someone about how Luke was and she thought his mother would be the best person to discuss him with.

'Lily?' She asked as she clutched at her coffee mug.

'Oh hello, Katie! Come, sit down and let's catch up!' Katie smiled and sat down opposite Lily.

'How are you?' Lily asked.

'I'm alright. A bit frustrated actually. Jacob's ill again and my paediatrician is on holiday again.'

'Oh honey. Go talk to Bob or someone, they'll sort him out.' Lily smiled.

'That's a great idea. I just wish Reid was around still. He always knew whether Jacob was ill even before me.' Katie remembered. Lily froze for a second at the mention of his name.

'Ah well, he's gone now. Let's not talk about him.'

'Why? Do you not like him?' Katie asked, intrigued.

'Not really. I found his manner a little abrasive. He wasn't a very good teacher to Luke.'

'I think he was a little too good at being a teacher for Luke.' Katie thought.

'Oh. Was he bullying Luke?' Katie asked. Maybe Lily knew what was going on. Maybe another teacher had threatened to report Reid if he didn't leave Luke. But that still didn't explain why Reid was so hurtful to Luke when he broke his heart.

'Not as such. He just wasn't acting in a way that a teacher should. You lived with him, you should know… Wait a minute, you lived with him…' Lily said in realisation.

'Yes…' Katie answered.

'Oh my god, you know!' Lily exclaimed.

'Know what?' Katie asked.

'Know about my son and that… Dr Oliver.' She said in disgust.

'What… You know?' Katie asked in shock.

'Yes. Of course I know. Luke came home smelling of someone else everyday and I matched that with various other facts I was able to piece together a pretty accurate picture of what was going on.' She sniffed and looked at the ceiling.

'Oh my god. You do realise they were in love?' Katie asked feeling protective of her friend even if he had behaved badly to Luke.

'No, Dr Oliver didn't love my son. He used him for sex. He told Luke that and that's the truth.' She looked truly disgusted at the words that she had just said and it started a feeling of anger inside Katie.

'Wait a minute, Luke hasn't told anyone but me and Lucinda what Reid said to him. He hasn't seen you properly in months. How do you know what Reid said to him?'

Just then Damian entered the coffee shop and Lily stood up. She folded up her newspaper and left it on the table.

'It was nice talking with you, honey, but I need to talk to Damian.' Lily said with venom. She stalked out of Java with her hand wrapped around Damian's wrist.

'Oh my god,' Katie thought, 'It was Lily. It was Lily who made Reid say all of those things. Reid still loves Luke!'

She fished around in her handbag. She had an important phone call to make.