I Do Again

Chapter 8
 

Shaking his head, Reid looked on from his armchair as Luke and Ethan smiled, laughed, and thoroughly enjoyed the pictures in the latest of their parent’s daily emails from Greece.

“Reid, this country looks amazing.” Luke pointed at the screen. “And the water is so beautiful.”

“I’m sure it helps that you have very little ocean experience to compare it with. Oakdale, Illinois isn’t known for its beachfront resorts.”

“Come on, Reid, don’t be such a killjoy. Join us.”

Ready to share exactly how he felt about looking at someone else’s vacation pictures... especially someone else’s honeymoon pictures, Reid was halted by the warm, pleading eyes of his partner. “It couldn’t hurt to look this once.”

Pushing himself out of the chair, making sure Luke noticed the effort he was making, Reid sat beside the two Snyders as they pointed to, and commented on, each picture. Luke read each caption out loud so Ethan wouldn’t have to struggle to figure out the words and could just enjoy his mother and father’s commentary. It was actually rather relaxing. Reid was surprised at how much he enjoyed the entire experience and decided that, from now on, he would join them each night to review the email of the day.

 

*~*~*~*~*
 

The next day, Reid picked Ethan up at the farm where he’d spent one of the final days of his summer vacation playing with his sister, Natalie, swimming in the pond with Parker and Faith, and baking cookies with his Grandma Emma. Reid was most grateful for the last part as they would get to take home a good portion of Ethan’s culinary efforts.

In addition, Reid had been concerned with Luke having to work and also care for his brother. He knew Luke was in good physical condition, but too much strain and pressure wasn’t good for anyone. On top of everything else, Luke always made sure to let Reid know how much he loved him as soon as they put Ethan to bed. The entire routine wasn’t as bad as he’d expected -- not at all.

Ethan would be returning to school the following Monday, starting second grade. It was incredible to see the little rugrat growing up. He’d be seven before the year was out and he already had some of his older brother’s most endearing qualities.

Trying not to think about how attached he’d gotten to his youngest in-law, Reid bid good-bye to the family at the farm and took the energetic midget back to see his brother, have dinner, and enjoy another round of honeymoon pictures for the kiddies.

When they got home, Luke already had the table set and a chicken coming off the grill.

“I thought we agreed that you would try to take it easy and not do too much. Isn’t that why Ethan spent the day at chez Snyder?”

Luke gave Reid a tender welcome home kiss. They pressed their lips together and didn’t part as soon as Reid would have expected, not that he was complaining. When he felt Luke press his tongue past his lips, Reid tried to hold back a sound escaping his throat involuntarily. He soon stepped back, untangling himself from Luke’s warm arms. “As much as I’m enjoying this, we do have a pint-sized, G-rated onlooker in the next room.”

“I realized that, as of today, we’re more than half-way through babysitting duty. My mom and dad will be home in less than two weeks.”

“And here I thought you were enjoying playing big brother twenty-four/seven.”

“I’m always his big brother, but when I moved out of my mom’s home, and in with you, I thought I’d left babysitting behind, except as an occasional occurrence. One month is a lot longer than I realized.”

“Especially since we’ve had the whole place to ourselves and now we’re restricted by kiddie schedules both day and night.”

“It sure reminds me how tough it is to be a parent. I’m not sure I ever want to have a kid full-time. For now I’m happy borrowing my brothers and sisters for a while, and then giving them back.”

Chuckling, Reid brushed his hand over Luke’s cheek. “I never thought much about having kids. Most of my thoughts were wrapped up in my career.”

“And now that you have a hot, young partner in your life?” Luke grinned and licked his lips.

“And now all I can think about is what to do when I’m alone with my hot, young partner. Kids are definitely not something I’m thinking about.”

“Good to know we’re on the same page... for now.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means that I’m one of six and I like being part of a big family.”

“You still are part of a big family. It would seem I’ve been added to the mix as well.” Reid smiled.

“You never know. I may have a strong desire to be a parent someday -- like my dad.”

“When someday rolls around, we’ll talk about it.”

Luke gave Reid one more peck on the cheek and then returned to getting the food on the table for dinner.

 

*~*~*~*~*
 

When the three finished their meal, they cleaned up the kitchen, and then walked into the living room to sit together in front of the computer.

Luke scrolled through his new emails and found none from Lily or Holden. “That’s weird.”

“Maybe they had a particularly tiring day of touring and fell asleep before they could make the post of the day.”

Biting his lip, Luke scrolled through each of his new emails once again, more slowly this time. Reid could see the concern on his face, but said nothing to encourage further panic, especially with Ethan around.

Watching Luke stop and open up another email he heard a strangled gasp from his lover. “Luke?”

“Ethan, why don’t you go brush your teeth and get into your pajamas now.”

“But I want to stay and see what Daddy and Mommy sent us.”

“It looks like they didn’t send anything today, buddy. Please, just do as I say. Okay? I’ll be with you soon to put you to bed.”

Clomping his feet as he started to walk toward the bathroom the kid frowned -- Ethan pouted better than his brother. “Fine. But I want to look at double pictures tomorrow night.”

After he heard the bathroom door close, Reid moved closer to Luke. “What are you looking at? I don’t know about Ethan, but you’re scaring me.”

Having completely opened the email, he handed the laptop to Reid. He scanned it. It was an alert from the Associated Press news feed Luke subscribed to in order to stay up to date with world events throughout the day.

Reid couldn’t contain a guttural sound emerging from his throat. “It can’t be the same hotel.”

“How many hotels of the same name do you think they have in Athens?” Luke’s head rested in his hands. “And it looks like a bomb -- a fucking bomb!”

Pulling his cell phone from his pants pocket, Luke opened the text message he had received from Damian right after the wedding, and stared at it.

“Luke, you don’t know that it was him or any of his people.”

“I don’t?” Tossing the phone onto the coffee table, Luke started to pace like a caged lion. “What the fuck do I do? Who do I call to find out if they’re okay?”

“I’m sure they’re okay. They’ve been sightseeing more than anyone in Greece. I’m sure they weren’t there.” Reid hoped he was convincing Luke, because he certainly wasn’t sure he believed his own words. The article revealed that the bomb exploded when most visitors were in their rooms, asleep.

“Reid, I don’t know what to do with this.”

“The first thing you do is call the American Embassy in Greece and tell them who you are, and why you need information.” Reid pondered his next suggestion, but knew it was the best course of action to get answers. “The next thing you do is call Lucinda. Your grandmother has enough connections around the world to find out anything and everything -- in detail.”

Nodding, Luke sat down, bringing up a new window on his computer screen to find out the contact information for the American Embassy in Greece. As soon as he made the call and identified himself as a relative of someone who may have been in what was being called the hotel devastation, Luke was transferred to someone in charge of assembling information for concerned families. The woman recorded his name, all his contact information, and secondary contact information for Reid so there would be no risk of missing a call.

Luke was beginning to pale. Reid was concerned, and brought him a glass of orange juice. He sat with Luke as he called Lucinda. The conversation wasn’t long, but it was clear Luke’s grandmother was very concerned, especially knowing Damian had learned of the wedding.

After Luke disconnected he seemed lost, unwilling or unable to move or say anything.

“Luke, I’m going to put Ethan to bed. I won’t tell him anything. But first I’m going to walk you to our bed. I’ll join you there shortly.”

Following blindly, Luke took Reid’s offered hand and let Reid guide him to their bedroom, once there he lay on the bed and settled against his pillow, still fully clothed.

Reid told Ethan a story about super-brains planted in a new kind of superhero until he could hear the kid start breathing slowly as he fell into a deep, unaware sleep.

Returning to Luke, Reid toed off his shoes, pulled off Luke’s, and climbed into bed next to him. Holding Luke close the two lay silently until Luke’s body began to shudder. “What’s the matter? We don’t know anything.”

Clutching Reid’s shirt in his fingers Luke whispered, “Yeah, I do. I can feel it. They’re gone.”

[TBC]

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