ATWT Fic - Bring Me Back to That Strange Place (Part 2/3)

[loveandallthat]

(Part 1)



Reid Oliver stared at himself in his hotel bathroom mirror. Of course the only room available in any hotel near Harvard Square would be an overpriced suite close to the top floor. Now obviously, Reid had plenty of money to spend on luxuries like this; he was a world-renowned neurosurgeon who had spent the past year living with a roommate in a tiny apartment, and even before that had always been very good with saving his money. The cost was a non-issue, plain and simple. He had no problem with the height of his room (the elevator wasn’t his favorite thing, but it seemed to be in perfect working order from what he could tell.) No, the worst thing was that every foot, every inch of this swanky hotel room practically sang Luke Snyder. It was fancy, and frou-frou, and decorated according to the most current trends. The bed was ridiculously comfortable, and the bathroom felt like it was the size of his and Katie’s entire apartment.

Seriously, it was as though this entire journey was a guilt trip. He’d flown here first class, and yet ordered no alcohol. His mouth had asked for lemonade before he could stop it. Every bit of his unintentionally glamorous adventure reminded him of an amazing man with a silver spoon in his mouth whose life was anything but fortunate, and how Reid had quite possibly broken his heart.

And saved his life, Reid reminded himself, which was infinitely more important. Luke could love again as long as he could live again (and he could love Reid again if all went perfectly… but Reid dared not hope.)

It was eating him up inside, however, how he’d said good-bye to Luke. Was there a better way? Could there have been anything different he could have said? Reid didn’t have much experience in the area, as evidenced by his strange and sudden use of clichés to try to convince Luke that they were through. He tried not to let himself think that Luke was way too smart, emotionally and logically, to fall for that kind of crap. If Luke hadn’t believed him… what would happen then? A part of him wanted Luke to have not believed him, because that would mean that he knew Reid and trusted him implicitly. But a much bigger part wished he’d fall for it, so he could be safe.

So he pretended there was no doubt. It was easier and made him more efficient. That was of key importance here. The faster he could do this, the better. Plus, he thought, pacing slightly unevenly with the weight of the gun in his pants, with surprise on his side he might even win.

The guilt, though, was something that would have to go away. He’d gotten an email from the authorities in Massachusetts, casually informing him that the man who’d tormented his childhood had been let out of prison.

“Dear Dr. Oliver,

I start by reminding you that this is a completely routine email, and you should have nothing to worry about. However, given your past, we are obligated to notify you that Mr. Jackson Michaels has been released from our penitentiary. He has shown remarkable progress and, as space is always limited, we released him early, after twenty years, for good behavior.

It should be of little concern to you, as he is not returning to Massachusetts at all, nor to Texas, but to a small, relatively unknown town called Oakdale, Illinois. After the initial surprise of him wanting to move there, we learned that his family had lived there in the past, and figured that it would be better to have him there. The state authorities of Illinois have been informed, and they will contact the Oakdale office as soon as they are properly briefed. I assume that none of this is a cause of concern for you. Best wishes.”

Clearly the so-called authorities could not even be bothered to keep tabs on him properly, but Michaels sure had. Why would they even tell him where he was going? So he could avoid Oakdale for the rest of his life?

Although, now that he thought about it, that was what would happen if his plans failed, wasn’t it?

It had been nerve-wracking, what he’d had to do. He got to the airport as quickly as possible; there wasn’t even time to tie up loose ends. He’d had to get the hell out of Oakdale. After he got into the airport he had stalked all incoming flights from Massachusetts until he’d seen a face that had haunted his nightmares, at least it had before he took up meditation and yoga. And as soon as he was certain those eyes had locked on to him, he’d fled to catch the next flight to anywhere in Massachusetts he could, faking normality the entire way, as though he was just returning to his birthplace for a visit. As intended, he was followed.

Lure the guy out of Oakdale, what a good idea. He’s cursed by that lousy town with its terrible drama-crazed inhabitants attracting criminals and lunatics left and right. And Luke and Katie and Jacob, but he was not thinking about them right now, not at all.

He could be okay with anything as long as they were safe.

Reid was glad he’d managed to get Michaels to Cambridge, but if he didn’t get everything set up soon, he risked him flying back to Oakdale. He knew that he had to act quickly and decisively, to do anything at all that would make it certain that Michaels would never be anywhere near the people Reid loved ever again.

Washing his hands again, partly due to obsessive compulsive tendencies and partly because he really had nothing else to do, Reid gave his reflection one last glance and left the bathroom. He looked at his phone screen. He’d composed a text to Luke, simply saying, “I love you,” but he hadn’t let himself press the send button. He honestly couldn’t figure out if it would hurt Luke more or less to know that, if… well, if things didn’t go as planned. Usually Luke was the “better to have loved and lost” type of person, but maybe that wasn’t what was actually best for him.

It was selfishly tempting to press send, to be the hero for once, the self-sacrificing, Luke Snyder type. Or maybe if Luke were in his shoes, he wouldn’t send the text for fear of someone catching on?

Reid wasn’t exactly sure when he started questioning his actions this much, but he still put the phone back down on the table to put off his decision. If nobody showed up at his hotel in the next hour, Reid decided, he’d have to go on the offensive.

---

Landing in Massachusetts did absolutely nothing to calm Luke’s nerves, but it had a way of strengthening his resolve. Most people might think him crazy for having brought his grandmother on this type of journey, but they clearly knew nothing of Lucinda Walsh.

After some extremely deep digging by three different, independent private investigators hand selected by Lucinda, and funded by Luke, they believed themselves to be in possession of the true story of what had caused the sudden departure of Reid Oliver. And man was Luke ever proud of the fact that he had trusted his instincts.

Jackson Michaels. Just the name alone had now become enough to make Luke fume. Lucinda’s favorite investigator, Dick, had found Reid’s name with the information on a prisoner in Massachusetts, and upon further digging had realized that it was there alongside a notice to contact him with any changes in the prisoner’s status. As he was doing that, his young, hotshot new recruit, Cash, had been getting his first real job of finding Reid, which was a pretty routine process.

The speed at which he’d finished it impressed even his boss, however. He could never have been even close to that fast at his age. Cash was going places, and was going to be an asset on jobs. Maybe Dick could even retire soon, and pass along his client lists, if all went well.

As he was walking off the plane, Luke could feel his resolve strengthening with every step. He’d been a bit nervous about his decision to meddle in Reid’s affairs, but the feeling was far outweighed by the desire to do everything he could to help. If what he assumed about Reid was true, he’d need a lot of support.

“There’s our ride,” Lucinda said, pointing ahead of them to a driver bearing a sign larger than all the rest.

“Grandmother!” Luke scolded, but he was smiling slightly, “I thought we were trying to be sly here!”

“There’s nothing wrong with a little luxury in every situation,” she replied, winking, and successfully lightening the mood, just a bit. “Oh!” she exclaimed, noticing her phone ringing, and quickly answered it. Reminded that he also owned a phone, Luke turned his off of airplane mode and waited in vain for a text or missed call notification. He had none.

“Marvelous, thank you very much,” Lucinda was saying, and then she hung up the phone. Turning to Luke, she filled him in. “Cash has found the hotel where your doctor is staying, and has ever so kindly booked us the presidential suite! I wasn’t too sure I could trust a new employee, but he sure is covering his bases.”

“So we’re going to go to his hotel, where he might be able to see us at any point, and we’re also going to receive the royal treatment from the staff, despite it not being at all necessary.”

“We might as well make something happen. You are not just here to visit your ex,” Luke cringed at this, but Lucinda pressed on, “you are here to settle things, one way or another.”

They stopped talking once they got into the limo, unwilling to trust anyone, just in case. The silence was nice at this stage of the journey; visualizing everything he wanted to do or say, what he would say if he saw Reid… it kept Luke pressing on. The ride was much too short for Luke, he thought, opening his own door while the driver helped Lucinda out of the car and was likely paid a hefty sum of money over what he actually should have received.

While they were checking in, Luke had to use almost all of his brainpower just consciously telling himself not to look around, that he shouldn’t let Reid see him until he was settled in with a plan in place, or else he might just push Luke away again. He picked up Lucinda’s bag and his own as they walked over to wait for the elevator, which opened as soon as they got there. Maybe it was a good sign for their luck that day, Luke hoped.

They got into the elevator, as did a lone man in a suit who glanced sideways at Lucinda as she pushed the button for the penthouse, but didn’t comment. Luke scanned the lobby as the elevator doors started to close, but turned his eyes to Lucinda when he heard her commenting to their elevator companion on the looks he was shooting between Luke and Lucinda.

“I may like them younger, honey, but this would be ridiculous.”

---

Reid woke up with a start. He’d fallen asleep, which was incredibly surprising based on the stress he was under. His mood had caused him to have an incredibly strange dream. Noah Mayer, of all people, had shown up in Massachusetts, knocking at the door to Reid’s hotel. When Reid had answered it, Noah had put his large hands on Reid’s shoulders, shaken him slightly, and thanked him sincerely for restoring his eyesight.

He looked at the clock. It was near the end of his self imposed time limit. He knew he could disregard it and stay, but where would that leave things? No, for better or worse, Reid knew he had to do something. After one last glance around the hotel, he opened the door and walked out. Without even bothering to make sure that the door had closed behind him, he turned down the hall and he walked toward the elevators.

The ride down was smooth and easy. It felt like the world was trying its best to be nice to him; maybe it knew he was in a bad mood today. (Maybe it was apologizing for making Noah Mayer appear in his dream.) Either way, he had no intentions to question his fortune as the elevator finished its journey without a hitch, and he stepped out into the lobby. The elevator next to his was open, too, and it was filling up with people about to go up. As he passed, he glanced inside. For the briefest of moments, he could have sworn he saw Luke, and the lady next to him looked like Lucinda. First Noah, now Luke. Clearly he was going mad, seeing Oakdale’s citizens at every turn.

Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, Reid weaved in and out of the crowd in front of the entrance to the hotel, thanking the doorman who quickly opened the door for him, sensing his hurry. Damn, this was an excellent hotel.

Reid turned to his right as he left the hotel, trying to keep his head down and not be in anybody’s way. It would be preferable if he noticed Michaels instead of being noticed by him. Extra seconds could give him the upper hand, even if just emotionally. God damn it, Reid thought. He would have never done this before he met Luke, but now it felt like the only solution. He couldn’t even believe how much he loved Luke. More than himself or than anyone he had ever met. The thought of Luke in pain was just so unbearable to him. Luke who had gone through so much already, but was still happy, and sunny, and the most generous person Reid had ever met. The fact that Reid had been his usual self to Luke from the start and Luke had still wanted to save his job automatically, no questions asked, not even just for Noah’s sake boggled Reid’s mind, and he was not easily shocked.

Thinking about Luke made Reid walk faster, even more bound and determined. The fact that someone like Luke even existed seemed impossible to Reid, so that person loving him back? He still didn’t quite believe it, but he was not the type to let good things pass him by.

But… if he didn’t love Reid… if he could love someone else more… wouldn’t that make it even more important to save his life, to make him the happiest person on the planet?

Reid was in a dead run now, and he had barely noticed. He felt like the faster he was traveling, the further he was getting from these feelings, but it was definitely not working out like he had planned. He stopped, hunching over and leaning against a swing set. It seemed that his feet had known exactly where to take him, because here he was. This was his elementary school, where he had first met Mr. Michaels. (“You can call me Jackson, if you want.”)

School was out for the summer, and even the parking lot was completely empty, which seemed rare. Reid was able to walk in without seeing any other people around. It was dinnertime; they were probably with their loved ones. Reid grimaced.

It was hard to tell if the panting that Reid was doing was because of the running or the influx of emotions, but suddenly there was no time to think about it. Suddenly, he was worried that there was no time for anything.

“Hi, Reid,” he heard from a spot behind him, and he turned around slowly.

Of course he came here. Once he’d found out that Reid was in the area, it was his first impulse to go to the place they had met. This is where they first met, when Reid was introduced to his teacher. This was where they had recess every day, where Reid would sit quietly and read instead of playing with the rest of the children, so Mr. Michaels would talk to Reid, ask what he was reading that day. This was where it had started.

It looked like this was where it would end, too.

---

Luke looked around the suite. It was incredible, of course, the best that money could buy. He wished he could take Reid somewhere like this. No, he promised that he would. Bouncing on one of the mattresses to test out the comfort level of the bed, Luke told himself that no matter what, he would take Reid somewhere even nicer. He certainly deserved it.

Well, Dick was an expert private investigator, Lucinda’s favorite for a reason. He had looked up Jackson Michaels and gotten a surprisingly large amount of information, more than double anything found by her backup investigators. Jackson Michaels, 64, charged with vehicular manslaughter of a Mr. and Mrs. Oliver. Usually a pretty routine job, but it was decently well hidden. Michaels must have had friends in high places.

But Cash, despite being a newbie, or maybe because of being a newbie, was incredibly personable. He had his suspicions about the situation, which Luke managed to coerce out of him, pretty easily since he and Lucinda were the ones paying him. He and Dick had both agreed that there was something obviously wrong with the fact that they had tracked down an email sent to Reid to inform him of the release of the man who had supposedly unintentionally killed his parents. But Cash was the one who dug deeper, and made some educated guesses.

The fact that Michaels had Reid in his second grade class was a pretty big warning sign. Knowing someone before you brought about the death of their parents could just be because they lived around each other and traveled in the same area, but PI’s are beyond believing in coincidences like that, so Cash had figured he had somewhere to start. Everything was pretty routine; he saw an abundance of complaints that he favored smart students, which was common. Though, it set off an alarm in his head, since he had learned that Reid was a child prodigy.

Digging deeper than any private investigator including his superior would ever dream of, Cash had discovered that, as a mentor figure to Reid, Michaels was at his custody hearing a week before being arrested. These state police officers, he believed, were not doing their job properly or extensively enough. It seemed pretty obvious to Cash that Jackson Michaels was especially interested in Reid, certainly as more than a teacher. One could assume that he only wanted to adopt him after the tragedy. (Well, they could have assumed that was all he wanted until it was shown that he was the hit and run driver who had killed Reid’s parents.) But it just didn’t sit right with anybody involved in this situation.

And then there was something in Luke’s eyes as Cash disclosed all of this information and accepted a tip in the form of several one hundred dollar bills folded into a handshake that made him think there was a legitimate reason to suspect that this was true.

Luke, faithful in Reid that he was, and from a town where anything that could happen will, had found it extremely likely that, yes, there was something suspect and inappropriate going on around here. He agreed that maybe Michaels did not just admire the smart kids from afar, or from a purely academic standpoint.

Had he killed Reid’s parents on purpose? Dick had reluctantly agreed that the accident reports made it look entirely possible, though he was unwilling to jump to any conclusions if they could alter the success of a job. He didn’t want to cloud his judgment by deciding anything too early.

Knowing firsthand of self-sacrificial tendencies that Reid had, Luke found it very easy to believe that Reid would be doing everything to save Luke’s life. But knowing his own tendencies, it was impossible for him to let that happen. This was quite a bit more important than Reid thinking he was stepping out of the way of the supposed inevitable Luke and Noah reunion. And Luke was treating it with the deserved seriousness.

“Luke?” Lucinda spoke gently, placing her hand on his shoulder and causing their eyes to connect. “Dick and Cash are here in the car to take you out. I hope you’re right about this, and ready for what might happen.”

“Of course, Grandmother,” Luke said, trying to be exasperated but really just feeling glad to have someone there who cared about him. “Stay in the room safe with the guard, okay?” Lucinda nodded. She hugged him tightly, and watched, her hand covering her mouth as if to prevent herself from saying anything else or stopping him, as he left the room. She was nervous, but she had hired the best men she could find, and that gave her the needed comfort to go along with this plan.

Luke greeted the investigators gratefully; they were going above and beyond the call of duty in this situation, though of course the money was pretty enticing. Dick was looking at Cash very calculatingly, still watching him constantly for any signs of mistakes, though he didn’t appear to be finding any of those yet. Luke was glad, after all the amazing and intuitive ideas that he had, Luke wanted him to stay in this field of work for as long as he could.

Plus he felt infinitely better that there were two men with concealed weapons standing on either side of him, and at over six feet tall at that.

---

Reid looked in the eyes of Jackson Michaels coldly, biting his lip on a “hello, Mr. Michaels” that was locked away in his subconscious.

It was easy to have it engrained in his mind, since it happened the same way every day. “Hello class. Hi Reid.” “Hello Mr. Michaels.” In retrospect it was very creepy for a teacher to start each day by singling out one student and greeting them. It seemed like he tried to do that to every kid in the class, to make each one feel special, but Reid learned differently. He sat next to Nathan, an autistic child in his class. Reid was the only person who got along with him, and they had an elementary school friendship based primarily on their fondness for going off on their own and doing their own things. Nathan was mathematically gifted, however, and counted everything. He remembered all of it, too. “Mr. Michaels has said hi to Reid seven times, Nathan four, Sarah twice…” he said one day. So, Reid knew that something was off.

“So you heard that I’d gotten out of prison, I take it?” He stepped closer to Reid as he spoke, becoming quieter with every step. Reid stood exactly where he was, refusing to back down even slightly or seem rattled. He was internally shaking, though, and suddenly questioning every choice he had made about this entire situation. He pulled his phone out of his pocket, trying to feign calmness like a businessman curious about the time but not in any real hurry. The screen with the unsent text to Luke was still open, and his phone was nearly out of battery. He pressed send before he had a chance to change his mind, and before he got any sort of notification of a sent message, his phone died.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about; I was just going on a walk.”

“With a gun in your pants?” Reid’s hand twitched involuntarily toward the weapon at its mention, and then he mentally cursed himself for falling into the trap. He looked up from the ground slowly. The second that Reid brought his eyes back up, he felt a hand on his shoulder, and it took everything he had not to immediately smack it away. This situation required patience and smart actions.

“I didn’t mean to hurt your parents, you know,” Michaels whispered, eyes pained. “I was going to talk to them again about the extra tutoring. They didn’t believe you needed it, but you did. And then when I was driving home from our meeting, so were they. It was the wrong place at the wrong time, I didn’t mean to do it.” At this point he was turning away from Reid, not even addressing him anymore, mumbling to himself. The ring on his finger brushed Reid’s face as his hand slid off of his shoulder. “I didn’t know what to do! Parents are supposed to trust teachers with their kids. Why did they not believe me?”

At this point, Reid could physically feel his resolve cracking. It almost sounded as though his parents had suspected something. As though they were taking him out of the tutoring because… the thought was unbearable. Reid had enjoyed having his teacher pick him as the favorite, hold him in higher regard, coddle him a little. Especially since his parents never had. He was depressed, of course, after they were killed, but grateful to see Mr. Michaels at the custody hearing, he remembered bitterly, knuckles clenched and white. He wanted him to adopt him. Finding out it was Michaels who had killed them was like losing another parent. Even at nine, Reid wasn’t stupid enough to believe that it had been a total accident.

“It’s not too late, Reid,” Michaels spoke, his voice almost physically painful to Reid’s ears. “You could still come live with me.”

And suddenly Reid had grabbed him around the throat and slammed him into the brick wall of the school.

---

(Part 3)