Mark of Excellence

Chapter 6

“Hey, Luke, what’s with those cups on the table?  Are the rugrats ready to give up those bottles that are constantly hanging out of their mouths?”

Luke grinned at Ethan.  “Your brother and sister are at the right age.  Their pediatrician told us to just put their sippy cups within reach and curiosity should lead them to try to drink from them.  Generally with twins, one sees the other try and he or she soon follows after.”

“So which munchkin do you think will try first?”  Ethan tweaked Bobby’s shoulder as he passed his little brother, eliciting a giggle from the toddler.

“Miri seems a little more precocious at times, but Bobby loves eating and drinking so it’s a toss up.  Your guess is as good as mine.”

“I have to admit, having them around hasn’t been as bad as I thought it would be.  I know Jacob has all kinds of issues with his younger brother, but he was having problems with Chris long before the little guy came along anyway.”

“Very smart of you to notice.  I’m glad you don’t mind having Miri and Bobby around, especially since none of you are going anywhere for a very, very long time.”

Ethan chuckled.  “I kind of figured that much.”  Ethan stopped and stood in front of Luke.  “When’s Dad coming home?”

“Soon, I hope.  It’s been a couple of weeks since he left Noah with a special task to undertake, and supposedly there was some type of resolution that finally came about.  Mark was planning on talking to Reid about where things stand today.”

“I hope Noah figured this out.  He really did fuck up.”

“Ethan!”  Luke couldn’t stand his younger brother’s foul mouth, especially when he freely expressed himself in front of the twins.

“Give it a rest, Luke.  Your yelling brings more attention to swear words than just saying them and letting them pass.”  Ethan grinned, clearly proud of the point he made.

“You may be right, but let’s try to curb the language around Miri and Bobby.  They’re getting to the age where they’ll start picking up every word they hear.”

“Fine.  I’ll try to do my best.”  Ethan shrugged.  “Got some homework to finish before dinner.  I hope Dad comes back with good news.  I know he’s had good reason to be bitchy, but it’s getting old.”  Luke ignored Ethan’s choice of words since the twins seemed completely involved in a DVD they were watching.

As Ethan headed up the stairs Luke mumbled, “I hope so, Eth, I hope so.”

Less than five minutes after Ethan went upstairs, the front door opened and Reid walked in humming.  Luke would have fallen over had he not been seated.  Humming!  Reid hadn’t come home content, let alone happy, in weeks.

The first thing he did after hanging up his coat was to walk straight to Luke, offer his hand inviting Luke to stand opposite him and shocked him with a deep, passionate kiss. 

“Not that I’m complaining, but what was that for?”

“Can’t a husband show his spouse how much he loves and appreciates him?”  Reid smiled broadly.

“Any time!”  Luke returned the favor kissing Reid back, both opening their mouths, allowing the kiss to heat up.  “I love you.”

“And me you.”  The two kissed again, losing themselves in each other.

“Dada, cup.”  Before Luke and Reid could get any more involved Miri picked up the sippy cup resting on the table.

Luke could feel the warmth of his cheeks and imagined they matched Reid’s flushed face.  “I guess we’ll have to continue this later.”

“You can count on it.”  Reid looked at Miri.  “Hey, Princess.  You have a cup.  Do you know what to do with it?”

“Cup.”  The toddler continued to hold the cup in her hand as Bobby discovered the other cup and gripped it.

“Milk.”  Without missing a beat, Bobby lifted the cup to his lips and started drinking with such ease and expertise that it appeared as if he had been practicing in secret, waiting to unveil his new skill to his fathers when they were both present.

“It looks like Bobby is continuing to channel you and your natural inclination toward satisfying your voracious appetite.”  Luke grinned.

“I wonder if he’ll acquire all my voracious appetites.”  Reid nipped at Luke’s ear.

“Not now.  As much as I would like to indulge your appetite, we have two very wide-eyed witnesses, not to mention one teen who’s already getting impatient for his dinner.”

“Then let’s move into the kitchen and satisfy one hunger at a time.”

“Reid, before we do anything, what has you in this extremely upbeat mood?  I can’t wait any longer to find out.”  Luke hoped he would get the best possible answer but didn’t want to make any assumptions until he heard it from Reid.

“Our very own Cecil B. DeMille finally came through.  Mark and Noah both showed up at my office with rather large bags from Al’s.  At first I thought it was a peace offering in lieu of getting the job done and that was how they were humbling themselves before the Chief of Staff.  But soon after they set the food on my conference table and we sat down they unveiled the plan.”

“Are you going to keep me in suspense?  What did Noah come up with?”

“Apparently, Noah’s rep at WOAK isn’t too bad.  When he contacted the editor of the medical journal, explaining Mr. Mayer did not approve the asinine final draft that was published, but had only approved a much earlier draft, the editor arranged to see the earlier draft.  After reading it, he proceeded to commit to printing the original version of the article, featuring a staff at Memorial that is far more than one super-surgeon.  He then reported back to Noah that he told the little-writer-who-couldn’t that while he was a talented writer, his services would no longer be needed as he had embarrassed the professional journal.”

“Oh no!  So Noah got him fired.”  Luke was pleased with the results regarding Memorial, but he hated to find out someone lost his job in the process.

“Not so fast, oh empathetic one.”

Luke tilted his head.  “So, what happened?”

“It seems Noah’s ardent admirer is going to try his hand at writing for TV, under the tutelage of Noah and Katie.”

It didn’t take a big leap for Luke to see some flaws in the plan.  “How does Mark feel about Noah working closely with this guy?” 

“I got the sense that Noah learned a lot about getting too involved with colleagues going as far back as his college days.”  Reid winked at Luke.  “It’s a time I believe neither of you remember with longing, if you know what I’m referring to.”

“I know what you mean.”  Luke had a nasty flashback to Mason and quickly wiped him from his thoughts.

“Hopefully, he and Mark are solid enough to withstand the upcoming arrival of the new gay boy in town.”

“I hope so.”

“As long as we don’t have to get involved I’ll be happy.”

“Do you think that’s possible?”  Luke couldn’t keep the concern from his voice.

“I’m not sure, especially since the first project he’ll be assigned, probably with the intention of making amends for this mess, will be a documentary about the evolution of the Snyder Neurology Pavilion.”

“So that means we’ll all be working with this guy.”  Alarm bells were silently ringing in Luke’s head.

“You got it.  I’m looking forward to meeting this kid.”

“Don’t look too closely.”  A wave of insecurity filled Luke.

“Hey.  One thing you never have to worry about is me.  I’m a one husband man who really did mean every vow he made at his wedding ceremony.”

“I love you, Reid.  You know exactly what to say and how to say it.”  Luke and Reid kissed.  Reid brushed his hand over Luke’s cheek.  Luke immediately relaxed, leaning into Reid’s warm touch.

“You know, Luke, this guy may take one look at you and forget about Noah.”

“Fat chance.”  Luke chuckled.  “I meant my vows one hundred percent too.”

“Good to know because the kid’s arriving in town in a couple of weeks.”

[The End of this story.  More to come with the arrival of the newest gay writer in town.]

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