FIC: In These Small Hours (Luke/Reid, 1/1)
Title: In These Small Hours
Author: cindergal
Rating: PG13
Characters/Pairing: Luke/Reid
Summary: Our lives are made in these small hours...
Word Count: 2666
Disclaimer: Sadly, they don't belong to me.
A/N: This fic was written about a year ago (except for a few lines at the end), and I...forgot about it. I found it last night while organizing my unfinished fic folder. Oops.
A/N 2: This is for _alicesprings, and takes place in the same universe as the story I wrote for her for the Help Japan auction, Every Picture Tells a Story. It was originally written as part of a longer version of that fic, but ultimately didn't fit into the structure I chose to use for that story. You don't have to read that one to understand this one, though.
A/N 3: Title from "Little Wonders" by Rob Thomas
A/N 4: I have no idea why I keep writing baby fic, but I promise to stop! Soon! ;-)
one a.m.
Reid stands in the doorway of Luke's home office, just watching him for a moment. Luke is absently gnawing on the end of a pen, brow furrowed in concentration and head bent over some paperwork with lots of fine print. Reid wonders what it is that's got Luke so concerned that he's still going over it at nearly one o’clock in the morning.
"Whatcha got there?"
Luke jumps a little and turns the papers he's been pouring over upside down on his desk. "Hey, you're home! I didn't hear the door," he says, swiveling around in his chair. He gives Reid a big, genuine smile that has I'm so happy to see you! written all over it, and Reid's heart thuds a little harder in his chest. Maybe some day he'll get over that thrill he gets every time Luke Snyder smiles at him like that. But he hopes not.
"No wonder. You looked pretty absorbed by whatever that is," Reid says, nodding towards the desk.
"Oh, it's nothing. How'd the surgery go?"
Reid steps into the room, coming to stand in between Luke's knees. "Nice evasive maneuver, Mr. Snyder. And I was awesome. You have to ask?"
Luke laughs and pulls him down for a lingering kiss. "Of course you were, Dr. Oliver. Silly me. And I've got all kinds of maneuvers," he says, and the swivel chair ends up doing a lot more swiveling.
***
"Despite a valiant effort on your part, surely you realize that I did not forget about those top secret papers of yours," Reid says. “So what is it this time? Family member gone missing? One of your fathers in jail again? Or escaped from jail again? I can’t keep up.”
Luke groans and rolls onto his side, propping his head up on his hand. "Didn't I tire you out, yet?" he asks, looking down at Reid with amusement in his eyes. They had moved from Luke's office to the bedroom a while ago, and while a successful surgery often leaves him a little high and horny, truthfully, he is getting sleepy. But he's also a little concerned about whatever Luke seems so reluctant to tell him. It’s not like Luke to keep things from him.
"I am an iron man, Mr. Snyder. You should know that by now. But fine, I'll drop it.” He reaches up and cups Luke’s face in his hand. “Just tell me if I need to worry about you, all right?”
Luke stares down at him for a moment. "I love you," Luke says, and Reid's heart clenches because he looks so very serious. Then he kisses Reid quickly and climbs off the bed. "I'll be right back."
Reid props himself up on his elbows, watches Luke leave and lets him get half-way down the hall before calling him back.
"What?" Luke asks from the doorway.
"Oh, nothing. I just wanted to watch you walk away again," Reid says, waggling his eyebrows. Luke snorts with laughter, picks up a pillow from the floor and throws it at him before sauntering back down the hallway, naked as the day he was born. When he returns, he hands a stack of papers to Reid before pulling on a pair of boxers and climbing back into bed.
“They’re not top secret. It’s just a discussion I thought we could have later. When it’s not the middle of the night.” He lays his hand on Reid‘s knee. “But I don’t want you worrying about me.”
Reid rubs his eyes. It really is fine print, and lots of it. "Do I have to read through all of this legalese, or can you give me the Reader's Digest version?"
"Well," Luke says. He turns around so he's facing Reid, who's sitting back against the headboard. "It’s some research I've been doing into...adoption. Specifically adoption by gay couples. Lawyers and agencies that specialize in that kind of thing.
Luke pauses, and Reid realizes he's supposed to say something here, so he makes a show of shuffling through the papers, though he's not really seeing them. "I see."
Luke clears his throat. "Um...we talked about this before we got married, right? How someday we might want to have a child?" Reid looks at him, still too stunned to respond, and Luke smiles. "I'm just feeling lately like it‘s...someday."
"Are you trying to tell me that your biological clock is ticking?"
Luke laughs. "Something like that. I just feel...ready. Settled. The foundation is well established now. The shipping company is turning a profit and I've hired a really good team of people to manage it. I would feel okay about taking some time off." Reid nods. Luke's been planning for this all along, he suddenly realizes. Putting all the pieces in place. "And you and me?” Luke continues. “I think we’re pretty amazing together.”
“I’d have to disagree with you there.”
Luke looks surprised. “You would?”
“I mean, come on. Pretty amazing?”
Luke grins. "Really, incredibly amazing. So basically, I’m just really happy, and...” He ducks his head, looking up at Reid through those long lashes. “I hope you are, too...”
“I am,” Reid says quickly.
“And I think sharing all that with a child would just make our lives even more....”
"Amazing?" Reid suggests cheerfully.
He smiles again, cheeks reddening. "Gimme a break. It's late. I'm short on adjectives. Okay, go ahead and say it.”
“Say what?.”
"Aren't you going to say something about how sappy I am?"
"You're incredibly sappy," Reid says, grabbing Luke's face in his hands and kissing him soundly. "Don't you ever change."
If the way he returns Reid‘s kiss is an indication, Luke is very pleased with this response. "I'm afraid you're stuck with me, Dr. Oliver, sap and all."
Reid kisses him again. "Glad to hear it." He glances down at the papers still in his hands. "You've done a lot of work on this, haven't you?"
"Kind of. Just preliminary stuff, but there's a lot to do. I wanted to be able to answer any questions you might have, and...what? What‘s that look?“
Reid glances down at the papers again, frowning.
Luke runs his hands through his hair. “Look maybe I should have asked you, first. I just thought..."
"Yeah, you really should have, because I'm not at all sold on this adoption thing, Luke. You may have spent a lot of time on this for nothing.”
Luke's face falls. "Really?"
"Really." He tosses the papers onto the bedside table.
"Reid..."
"I mean, if we adopt, then the kid won't look like you."
Luke's face takes on an adorably confused expression. "Like...me?"
"DNA, baby," Reid says, clapping his hands together. "That's what I'm talkin' about." He thumbs Luke's chin. "Adoption's great and all. But I really want a cute kid, and with your DNA that's pretty much guaranteed, right? We just need a good looking egg donor, and Bob‘s your uncle."
Luke bursts out laughing. "You're not serious."
Reid nods. "As a heart attack."
Luke just stares into his eyes for a moment, with that expression that tells Reid he can see right through him. "DNA, huh?" he asks softly.
Reid nods. "I want those big brown eyes. And definitely those dimples..." he says, when Luke can't help but smile. He runs a hand over Luke's head. "And that clever mind. And that great big heart," he says, pressing his hand to Luke's chest.
Luke, eyes shining with emotion, climbs on top of Reid and pushes him onto his back. "Reid. You're..."
"Amazing?" Reid suggests again.
Luke shakes his head. "Yes. And impossible!" he says, laughing as he kisses him.
"Yep. And I’m afraid you're stuck with me, too."
Luke lifts his head, his laughter fading into a fond smile and his beautiful big, brown, sappy eyes filling up. "Yeah. Thank God for that."
two a.m.
Reid isn’t sure what wakes him, at first, but as he rolls over and reaches his arm out, he realizes it’s because Luke is not in bed with him. He used to be able to fall asleep anywhere, at any time - years of medical residency will do that to a person. And he still has no problem nodding off in the on-call room. But at home? He never sleeps well if Luke isn’t there next to him. He smiles to himself. God, he’s pathetic.
He pads out into the hallway and down the stairs finding Luke curled up in a corner of the sofa with his laptop, TV on low. Luke looks over his shoulder at him and smiles tiredly.
“Can’t sleep?” Reid runs a hand through Luke’s hair as he walks around the sofa and slides in next to him. “That’s happening a lot, lately.” Ever since they had that very significant conversation a couple of weeks ago.
Luke snaps his laptop shut and sets it on the coffee table. “It’s all this surrogacy stuff. There are so many options, and there are all these potential legal issues depending on which one we choose...” He lays his head against Reid’s shoulder. “It’s exhausting. We need to make an appointment with a lawyer. Grandmother can recommend one.”
Reid nods. “We could do that.”
Luke lifts his head. “Or...? I hear an 'or' in there.”
Reid turns so that he’s sitting sideways on the sofa, facing Luke. “Katie.”
“Katie?”
“She could be our surrogate. She’s made some...hints...that she would be willing to do that.”
Luke narrows his eyes at Reid.
“Okay, she sort of told me outright that she would love to do it, actually.”
"Reid..."
"OKAY! I asked her and she said yes. Right away. No hesitation. Happy now?"
“Katie?" Luke frowns. "I don't know. That seems kind of...weird.”
“Why? Because we know her? That makes it easier.”
“I know. I love Katie. I’m also... kind of related to her.”
“Not by blood.”
“Yeah, but still...”
“What is the big deal? Isn’t Holden also Lily’s uncle or something? Inbreeding is practically de rigueur in Oakdale. No one will even blink an eye.”
Luke bites his lip, and Reid can tell he’s trying not to smile. “Okay, so you have a point. But my parents are not inbred!”
“A technicality. But it would explain a lot…”
Luke laughs and slaps him lightly on the arm. “So how would this work, exactly?”
“You jerk off into a cup. Katie gets well acquainted with a turkey baster."
Luke wrinkles his nose. “Oh, charming.”
“I could help. Well, with your end, at least." He bats his eyes dramatically. "Would that make it more romantic and special for you?”
Luke grins. “Maybe.”
“Consider it done. You can have me instead of the bad porno! There could be music and candlelight in the exam room.”
“I‘m really looking forward to it. Truly,” Luke deadpans.
“Anyway,” Reid continues, “then you knock up Katie - from a distance, of course - and nine months later a very attractive bambino pops out."
Luke is turning a little green. "Are you sure you don't want to adopt?"
Reid slides his arm around Luke's shoulders. "I know - it's very weird. If it's too weird for you we won't do it. We'll talk to a lawyer and go through an agency and it'll all be nice and neat and only marginally weird."
Luke leans in close, resting his forehead against Reid's. "But you really want our baby's mom to be Katie."
Reid shrugs.
"Because she's your best friend and you love her."
“Nah,” Reid scoffs. “I just want her for her good genes.”
Luke smiles. “Katie it is, then.”
Reid pulls Luke close, burying his face in Luke’s neck for a moment. “Thank you,” he whispers.
Luke pulls back a little so he can look at Reid. “I didn’t realize how important this was to you.”
Reid reaches out and cups Luke’s face in his hand and says seriously, “Of course it is. I mean, c‘mon. You and Katie? That kid’s pretty much guaranteed to be a looker.”
Luke laughs so hard that tears leak out of his eyes, and he has to rest his head against Reid’s chest, shoulders shaking.
"You really are impossible, Dr. Oliver," he says, when he finally stops laughing. "But I love you like crazy, anyway."
Reid kisses the top of his head. "Sap."
three a.m.
“You had to be born in the middle of the night, didn’t you?” Reid says. “And two weeks early. Couldn’t wait to get here, I guess. ” His daughter stares up at him, gripping his index finger tightly, and he swallows past the lump in his throat.
Reid feels Katie’s eyes on him, and knows that she’s smiling - and crying, of course - before he even looks up to find her awake.
“Oh, Reid. Look at you two.” She sniffles. Loudly. “You’re both just so beautiful.”
Reid rolls his eyes, but can’t help but look back down at the tiny bundle in his arms and smile. “I should call your OB, as you’re clearly delusional,” he says to Katie. “I mean, I always look good, but this kid is red and wrinkly and her head is all pointy.” He stands up and walks over to the bed. “I don’t suppose you’d like to hold her?”
“Now who’s delusional?” she says, sticking out her arms and wiggling her fingers, making the universal sign for “hand that baby over.” Reid grins and places the baby gingerly in her arms before sitting down on the edge of the bed. “Hi baby girl,” Katie says. “I’m your Auntie Katie.”
“You’re a little more than that,” Reid says.
“Reid. We talked about this.”
“Yes, we did. And you know damn well that you were always going to be way more than ‘Auntie Katie’, whether you were the baby mama or not. Which you are. So give it up. Besides,” he says, leaning in to kiss her cheek, “we have to some sane female influence in this child’s life. Otherwise, we just have...Luke’s side of the family.” He shudders dramatically, and she laughs.
“Oh, you don’t fool me. You love them. And they love you. So you give it up. Dad.” She grins widely, and his heart starts to race. Dad. That’s kind of terrifying. “You’re going to do great,” she whispers. “Plus, you’ve got Luke to share all of this with.”
As if on cue, Luke slips into the room, smiling when he sees the three of them on the bed together. “Can I join the party?” he asks. Katie pats the other side of the bed, and he sits down, leaning his shoulder into Reid’s as he runs his hand gently over the baby’s head.
“So what did you decide to name her?” Katie asks. “You’ve been keeping it hush, hush all this time.”
Reid rolls his eyes, and Luke laughs. “It’s been hush, hush because we couldn’t agree on one,” Reid says.
“But we finally did. Last night.”
Reid narrows his eyes. “Not exactly. You caught me in a weak moment.”
Luke grins. “We’re calling her Daisy.”
“Oh, that’s sweet!” Katie says. “You’ve got that whole flower theme in your family, with Lily and Rose...”
“I suppose Daisy is better then Hyacinth,” Reid says. “Or Petunia.”
“Well I think it’s a charming name,” she says, handing the baby to Luke. “Your turn, Daddy.”
Luke couldn’t look and prouder or happier at that, and Reid loves Katie’s just a little bit more in that moment.
“Oh come on, Reid,” Luke says softly, stroking her cheek. “She looks like a Daisy, don’t you think?”
Reid rests his chin on Luke’s shoulder and looks down at the baby, considering this. “Right now she looks like Winston Churchill.” Luke chuckles and kisses the side of Reid’s head.
Katie sighs dreamily. “Aren’t you just the cutest little family.”
“Yes, we are,” Reid says pointedly, taking her hand. Katie will always be a part of his family. “Even if the kid does have a pointy head.”
“Dr. Oliver,” Luke says happily, “you’re such a sap.”
Author: cindergal
Rating: PG13
Characters/Pairing: Luke/Reid
Summary: Our lives are made in these small hours...
Word Count: 2666
Disclaimer: Sadly, they don't belong to me.
A/N: This fic was written about a year ago (except for a few lines at the end), and I...forgot about it. I found it last night while organizing my unfinished fic folder. Oops.
A/N 2: This is for _alicesprings, and takes place in the same universe as the story I wrote for her for the Help Japan auction, Every Picture Tells a Story. It was originally written as part of a longer version of that fic, but ultimately didn't fit into the structure I chose to use for that story. You don't have to read that one to understand this one, though.
A/N 3: Title from "Little Wonders" by Rob Thomas
A/N 4: I have no idea why I keep writing baby fic, but I promise to stop! Soon! ;-)
one a.m.
Reid stands in the doorway of Luke's home office, just watching him for a moment. Luke is absently gnawing on the end of a pen, brow furrowed in concentration and head bent over some paperwork with lots of fine print. Reid wonders what it is that's got Luke so concerned that he's still going over it at nearly one o’clock in the morning.
"Whatcha got there?"
Luke jumps a little and turns the papers he's been pouring over upside down on his desk. "Hey, you're home! I didn't hear the door," he says, swiveling around in his chair. He gives Reid a big, genuine smile that has I'm so happy to see you! written all over it, and Reid's heart thuds a little harder in his chest. Maybe some day he'll get over that thrill he gets every time Luke Snyder smiles at him like that. But he hopes not.
"No wonder. You looked pretty absorbed by whatever that is," Reid says, nodding towards the desk.
"Oh, it's nothing. How'd the surgery go?"
Reid steps into the room, coming to stand in between Luke's knees. "Nice evasive maneuver, Mr. Snyder. And I was awesome. You have to ask?"
Luke laughs and pulls him down for a lingering kiss. "Of course you were, Dr. Oliver. Silly me. And I've got all kinds of maneuvers," he says, and the swivel chair ends up doing a lot more swiveling.
***
"Despite a valiant effort on your part, surely you realize that I did not forget about those top secret papers of yours," Reid says. “So what is it this time? Family member gone missing? One of your fathers in jail again? Or escaped from jail again? I can’t keep up.”
Luke groans and rolls onto his side, propping his head up on his hand. "Didn't I tire you out, yet?" he asks, looking down at Reid with amusement in his eyes. They had moved from Luke's office to the bedroom a while ago, and while a successful surgery often leaves him a little high and horny, truthfully, he is getting sleepy. But he's also a little concerned about whatever Luke seems so reluctant to tell him. It’s not like Luke to keep things from him.
"I am an iron man, Mr. Snyder. You should know that by now. But fine, I'll drop it.” He reaches up and cups Luke’s face in his hand. “Just tell me if I need to worry about you, all right?”
Luke stares down at him for a moment. "I love you," Luke says, and Reid's heart clenches because he looks so very serious. Then he kisses Reid quickly and climbs off the bed. "I'll be right back."
Reid props himself up on his elbows, watches Luke leave and lets him get half-way down the hall before calling him back.
"What?" Luke asks from the doorway.
"Oh, nothing. I just wanted to watch you walk away again," Reid says, waggling his eyebrows. Luke snorts with laughter, picks up a pillow from the floor and throws it at him before sauntering back down the hallway, naked as the day he was born. When he returns, he hands a stack of papers to Reid before pulling on a pair of boxers and climbing back into bed.
“They’re not top secret. It’s just a discussion I thought we could have later. When it’s not the middle of the night.” He lays his hand on Reid‘s knee. “But I don’t want you worrying about me.”
Reid rubs his eyes. It really is fine print, and lots of it. "Do I have to read through all of this legalese, or can you give me the Reader's Digest version?"
"Well," Luke says. He turns around so he's facing Reid, who's sitting back against the headboard. "It’s some research I've been doing into...adoption. Specifically adoption by gay couples. Lawyers and agencies that specialize in that kind of thing.
Luke pauses, and Reid realizes he's supposed to say something here, so he makes a show of shuffling through the papers, though he's not really seeing them. "I see."
Luke clears his throat. "Um...we talked about this before we got married, right? How someday we might want to have a child?" Reid looks at him, still too stunned to respond, and Luke smiles. "I'm just feeling lately like it‘s...someday."
"Are you trying to tell me that your biological clock is ticking?"
Luke laughs. "Something like that. I just feel...ready. Settled. The foundation is well established now. The shipping company is turning a profit and I've hired a really good team of people to manage it. I would feel okay about taking some time off." Reid nods. Luke's been planning for this all along, he suddenly realizes. Putting all the pieces in place. "And you and me?” Luke continues. “I think we’re pretty amazing together.”
“I’d have to disagree with you there.”
Luke looks surprised. “You would?”
“I mean, come on. Pretty amazing?”
Luke grins. "Really, incredibly amazing. So basically, I’m just really happy, and...” He ducks his head, looking up at Reid through those long lashes. “I hope you are, too...”
“I am,” Reid says quickly.
“And I think sharing all that with a child would just make our lives even more....”
"Amazing?" Reid suggests cheerfully.
He smiles again, cheeks reddening. "Gimme a break. It's late. I'm short on adjectives. Okay, go ahead and say it.”
“Say what?.”
"Aren't you going to say something about how sappy I am?"
"You're incredibly sappy," Reid says, grabbing Luke's face in his hands and kissing him soundly. "Don't you ever change."
If the way he returns Reid‘s kiss is an indication, Luke is very pleased with this response. "I'm afraid you're stuck with me, Dr. Oliver, sap and all."
Reid kisses him again. "Glad to hear it." He glances down at the papers still in his hands. "You've done a lot of work on this, haven't you?"
"Kind of. Just preliminary stuff, but there's a lot to do. I wanted to be able to answer any questions you might have, and...what? What‘s that look?“
Reid glances down at the papers again, frowning.
Luke runs his hands through his hair. “Look maybe I should have asked you, first. I just thought..."
"Yeah, you really should have, because I'm not at all sold on this adoption thing, Luke. You may have spent a lot of time on this for nothing.”
Luke's face falls. "Really?"
"Really." He tosses the papers onto the bedside table.
"Reid..."
"I mean, if we adopt, then the kid won't look like you."
Luke's face takes on an adorably confused expression. "Like...me?"
"DNA, baby," Reid says, clapping his hands together. "That's what I'm talkin' about." He thumbs Luke's chin. "Adoption's great and all. But I really want a cute kid, and with your DNA that's pretty much guaranteed, right? We just need a good looking egg donor, and Bob‘s your uncle."
Luke bursts out laughing. "You're not serious."
Reid nods. "As a heart attack."
Luke just stares into his eyes for a moment, with that expression that tells Reid he can see right through him. "DNA, huh?" he asks softly.
Reid nods. "I want those big brown eyes. And definitely those dimples..." he says, when Luke can't help but smile. He runs a hand over Luke's head. "And that clever mind. And that great big heart," he says, pressing his hand to Luke's chest.
Luke, eyes shining with emotion, climbs on top of Reid and pushes him onto his back. "Reid. You're..."
"Amazing?" Reid suggests again.
Luke shakes his head. "Yes. And impossible!" he says, laughing as he kisses him.
"Yep. And I’m afraid you're stuck with me, too."
Luke lifts his head, his laughter fading into a fond smile and his beautiful big, brown, sappy eyes filling up. "Yeah. Thank God for that."
two a.m.
Reid isn’t sure what wakes him, at first, but as he rolls over and reaches his arm out, he realizes it’s because Luke is not in bed with him. He used to be able to fall asleep anywhere, at any time - years of medical residency will do that to a person. And he still has no problem nodding off in the on-call room. But at home? He never sleeps well if Luke isn’t there next to him. He smiles to himself. God, he’s pathetic.
He pads out into the hallway and down the stairs finding Luke curled up in a corner of the sofa with his laptop, TV on low. Luke looks over his shoulder at him and smiles tiredly.
“Can’t sleep?” Reid runs a hand through Luke’s hair as he walks around the sofa and slides in next to him. “That’s happening a lot, lately.” Ever since they had that very significant conversation a couple of weeks ago.
Luke snaps his laptop shut and sets it on the coffee table. “It’s all this surrogacy stuff. There are so many options, and there are all these potential legal issues depending on which one we choose...” He lays his head against Reid’s shoulder. “It’s exhausting. We need to make an appointment with a lawyer. Grandmother can recommend one.”
Reid nods. “We could do that.”
Luke lifts his head. “Or...? I hear an 'or' in there.”
Reid turns so that he’s sitting sideways on the sofa, facing Luke. “Katie.”
“Katie?”
“She could be our surrogate. She’s made some...hints...that she would be willing to do that.”
Luke narrows his eyes at Reid.
“Okay, she sort of told me outright that she would love to do it, actually.”
"Reid..."
"OKAY! I asked her and she said yes. Right away. No hesitation. Happy now?"
“Katie?" Luke frowns. "I don't know. That seems kind of...weird.”
“Why? Because we know her? That makes it easier.”
“I know. I love Katie. I’m also... kind of related to her.”
“Not by blood.”
“Yeah, but still...”
“What is the big deal? Isn’t Holden also Lily’s uncle or something? Inbreeding is practically de rigueur in Oakdale. No one will even blink an eye.”
Luke bites his lip, and Reid can tell he’s trying not to smile. “Okay, so you have a point. But my parents are not inbred!”
“A technicality. But it would explain a lot…”
Luke laughs and slaps him lightly on the arm. “So how would this work, exactly?”
“You jerk off into a cup. Katie gets well acquainted with a turkey baster."
Luke wrinkles his nose. “Oh, charming.”
“I could help. Well, with your end, at least." He bats his eyes dramatically. "Would that make it more romantic and special for you?”
Luke grins. “Maybe.”
“Consider it done. You can have me instead of the bad porno! There could be music and candlelight in the exam room.”
“I‘m really looking forward to it. Truly,” Luke deadpans.
“Anyway,” Reid continues, “then you knock up Katie - from a distance, of course - and nine months later a very attractive bambino pops out."
Luke is turning a little green. "Are you sure you don't want to adopt?"
Reid slides his arm around Luke's shoulders. "I know - it's very weird. If it's too weird for you we won't do it. We'll talk to a lawyer and go through an agency and it'll all be nice and neat and only marginally weird."
Luke leans in close, resting his forehead against Reid's. "But you really want our baby's mom to be Katie."
Reid shrugs.
"Because she's your best friend and you love her."
“Nah,” Reid scoffs. “I just want her for her good genes.”
Luke smiles. “Katie it is, then.”
Reid pulls Luke close, burying his face in Luke’s neck for a moment. “Thank you,” he whispers.
Luke pulls back a little so he can look at Reid. “I didn’t realize how important this was to you.”
Reid reaches out and cups Luke’s face in his hand and says seriously, “Of course it is. I mean, c‘mon. You and Katie? That kid’s pretty much guaranteed to be a looker.”
Luke laughs so hard that tears leak out of his eyes, and he has to rest his head against Reid’s chest, shoulders shaking.
"You really are impossible, Dr. Oliver," he says, when he finally stops laughing. "But I love you like crazy, anyway."
Reid kisses the top of his head. "Sap."
three a.m.
“You had to be born in the middle of the night, didn’t you?” Reid says. “And two weeks early. Couldn’t wait to get here, I guess. ” His daughter stares up at him, gripping his index finger tightly, and he swallows past the lump in his throat.
Reid feels Katie’s eyes on him, and knows that she’s smiling - and crying, of course - before he even looks up to find her awake.
“Oh, Reid. Look at you two.” She sniffles. Loudly. “You’re both just so beautiful.”
Reid rolls his eyes, but can’t help but look back down at the tiny bundle in his arms and smile. “I should call your OB, as you’re clearly delusional,” he says to Katie. “I mean, I always look good, but this kid is red and wrinkly and her head is all pointy.” He stands up and walks over to the bed. “I don’t suppose you’d like to hold her?”
“Now who’s delusional?” she says, sticking out her arms and wiggling her fingers, making the universal sign for “hand that baby over.” Reid grins and places the baby gingerly in her arms before sitting down on the edge of the bed. “Hi baby girl,” Katie says. “I’m your Auntie Katie.”
“You’re a little more than that,” Reid says.
“Reid. We talked about this.”
“Yes, we did. And you know damn well that you were always going to be way more than ‘Auntie Katie’, whether you were the baby mama or not. Which you are. So give it up. Besides,” he says, leaning in to kiss her cheek, “we have to some sane female influence in this child’s life. Otherwise, we just have...Luke’s side of the family.” He shudders dramatically, and she laughs.
“Oh, you don’t fool me. You love them. And they love you. So you give it up. Dad.” She grins widely, and his heart starts to race. Dad. That’s kind of terrifying. “You’re going to do great,” she whispers. “Plus, you’ve got Luke to share all of this with.”
As if on cue, Luke slips into the room, smiling when he sees the three of them on the bed together. “Can I join the party?” he asks. Katie pats the other side of the bed, and he sits down, leaning his shoulder into Reid’s as he runs his hand gently over the baby’s head.
“So what did you decide to name her?” Katie asks. “You’ve been keeping it hush, hush all this time.”
Reid rolls his eyes, and Luke laughs. “It’s been hush, hush because we couldn’t agree on one,” Reid says.
“But we finally did. Last night.”
Reid narrows his eyes. “Not exactly. You caught me in a weak moment.”
Luke grins. “We’re calling her Daisy.”
“Oh, that’s sweet!” Katie says. “You’ve got that whole flower theme in your family, with Lily and Rose...”
“I suppose Daisy is better then Hyacinth,” Reid says. “Or Petunia.”
“Well I think it’s a charming name,” she says, handing the baby to Luke. “Your turn, Daddy.”
Luke couldn’t look and prouder or happier at that, and Reid loves Katie’s just a little bit more in that moment.
“Oh come on, Reid,” Luke says softly, stroking her cheek. “She looks like a Daisy, don’t you think?”
Reid rests his chin on Luke’s shoulder and looks down at the baby, considering this. “Right now she looks like Winston Churchill.” Luke chuckles and kisses the side of Reid’s head.
Katie sighs dreamily. “Aren’t you just the cutest little family.”
“Yes, we are,” Reid says pointedly, taking her hand. Katie will always be a part of his family. “Even if the kid does have a pointy head.”
“Dr. Oliver,” Luke says happily, “you’re such a sap.”