Fic: In the Eyes of the Law
Jun. 28th, 2015 07:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cardinalgirl75Title: In the Eyes of the Law
Author: writergirl2006 (Dee)
Rating: PG-13.
Characters: Luke, Reid, various Oakdalians, named and unnamed.
Word Count: 1910.
Summary: Marriage equality comes to Oakdale…and the rest of the country as well.
Disclaimer: All fictional characters are the property of their original creators, and I earn nothing for writing about them, so they really shouldn’t think of suing me for doing so. In fact, I think the original creators should be flattered that five years after the show went off the air, their characters were so memorable that people continue to create new adventures for them. I just hope Justice Anthony Kennedy will forgive me for borrowing the last paragraph of his majority opinion for storytelling purposes.
Author’s Note: This story is for![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
1faghag, who wanted a drabble written in commemoration of the Supreme Court of the United States’ ruling on marriage equality. From the moment I read the last paragraph of the majority opinion, I knew I wanted to write something based on it. The dissenters took pot shots at the language Justice Kennedy used in the writing, but in my opinion, these people must have hearts of stone. That last paragraph was absolutely beautiful and encapsulated the heart of the matter. As for my offering, it’s unbeta’d and all mistakes are mine. I hope you enjoy it even if it can’t come close to touching the brilliance of that last paragraph.
~*~*~*~*~*
Reid honestly doesn’t care what a bunch of old fogies in black robes think about his love life or whether or not they think he should be allowed to get married. But despite the fact that Luke and most of Oakdale thinks that Reid lives in a vacuum and doesn’t care for anything outside of Luke, brains, and food, Reid is well aware of what’s going on in Washington D.C.
When the decision is made public, Reid is exactly where he expected to be when he left the house at six in the morning on what is supposed to be his day off—in an O.R., still dealing with the aftermath of an unexpected brain bleed in a patient whose surgery should’ve taken place three days from now. The surgery is close to being done when his usual operating music—consisting of a mix of hits from the 80’s and early 90’s—is cut off in the middle of Tom Petty declaring he won’t back down. Reid barely registers the blip at first, but as the atmosphere of the operating room goes from tense to something more joyous, Reid realizes that something has happened. As the woman on the table still isn’t quite out of danger, he’s uncertain of what it is.
He glances up to see smiling eyes over surgical masks everywhere. “What?” he asks.
No one thinks it odd that Reid hasn’t listened to the news report which replaced Tom Petty, so it’s up to his favorite scrub nurse, Greta Halberk, to tell him. “The Supreme Court just ruled in favor of marriage equality.”
Reid lets that sink in for a few seconds before he says, “Okay, people, it’s what we expected to hear. Now it’s all over except for the number of divorces skyrocketing even further. Let’s get back to the more pressing concern of Ms. Corbin.”
There are a few surprised looks at Reid’s reaction to the news, but he doesn’t notice them. Jennifer Corbin is more important right now.
It’s another hour before Reid finishes with the patient and retreats to the scrub room to clean up. As he does so, he turns to an all-news station to hear the announcement in full. Someone observing him would have wondered at the enigmatic look on his face. Someone who knows him well will understand fully what he’s thinking, but there’s only one person who can claim that distinction.
Reid finishes up and heads out to speak with the family. It’s the part of his job that he likes the least but he knows it’s necessary. He finds his way blocked by a group of people standing outside the door. They’ve been waiting for him.
“We have the observation rooms upstairs if you want to watch genius at work,” Reid says. “The door limits your view.”
Then he notices that most of them aren’t hospital staff. In fact, most of them appear to be related to one Luke Snyder…
…who is on one knee, front and center, before him.
“No union is more profound than marriage,” Luke says, sounding as though he’s rehearsed this speech. “It embodies the highest ideals of love, fidelity, devotion, sacrifice, and family.”
Reid folds his arms over his chest. “Really, Luke?”
“In forming a marital union, two people become something greater than once they were. Marriage embodies a love that may endure even past death.”
“If reciting Supreme Court rulings is your idea of seduction, I have seriously overestimated your romantic soul,” Reid replies. “Most guys get Shakespeare or Keats. I get good ol’ Justice Kennedy.”
There’s some laughter at that, and Luke’s mouth twitches as well, but he soldiers on. “It would misunderstand these men and women to say they disrespect the idea of marriage. Their plea is that they do respect it, respect it so deeply that they seek to find its fulfillment for themselves. Their hope is not to be condemned to live in loneliness, excluded from one of civilization’s oldest institutions.”
“You do remember that we’re getting married next week, right? I refuse to believe you’ve forgotten, since you’ve essentially turned into Groomzilla since I asked you to marry me.” Which he had done in a far less embarrassing and far more romantic fashion than this, if Reid does say so himself.
Luke’s chest heaves with silent laughter and he looks down in a bid to regain his composure. He continues once he has done so. “Reid, when I agreed to marry you, it was with the knowledge that there were still places that would not accept that we were married. Today there’s no shadow over our marriage, no state in the country that can legally say we’re not husbands. Today, I’m asking you to marry me knowing that you can’t jump across the state line and say, ‘I live in this state now, where we’re not legally married, so screw you.’”
Reid knows he should be offended that Luke thinks he’d ever do something like that, but he isn’t. He’s come to know Luke well enough to understand that a scenario like that is one of Luke’s deepest-held fears. And truth be told, there’s a small part of Reid that fears the same thing.
“Of course I’ll marry you,” he says. “I wanted to marry you a year ago when Illinois made it legal, and I’m hardly going to change my mind now just because the rest of the country’s playing catch-up.”
The people around them—and it seems to Reid as though this number has multiplied in leaps and bounds since he walked out of the O.R.—collectively go “aww” and there are a couple of happy sniffles. (Reid’s pretty sure he spied Nurse Gretchen in the crowd.) Reid hardly notices them because his attention remains focused on the man kneeling before him.
“So now that we’re both on the same page, get up off that floor. There are probably more germs on it than can be found in a petri dish. The last thing I want is for you to get an infection, wind up in the hospital, and miss out on that shindig you’ve been overplanning since the last time this question was asked.”
Luke finally lets go of the laugh he’s held in this whole time and clambers to his feet. As the crowd disperses to get back to what they should be doing, Luke closes the distance between them, takes Reid’s face in his hands, and gives him a firm kiss. He presses his forehead to Reid’s and says, “I love you.”
“I love you, too. Even if you are the biggest drama queen I’ve ever met in my life.”
Luke snorts. “Did you have to call me Groomzilla in front of everyone?”
“Hey, when even Katie says you’re going overboard, you know you have a problem.” Reid gives Luke a quick kiss before he pulls away. “I have to go let the Corbins know she’s going to make it, but after that I’m free for the day. You want to spend it celebrating marriage equality the best way I know how?”
“By helping me write out thank you cards for the gifts we’ve already received?”
“Only if we received any of the gifts I wanted to register for.”
Luke blushes. Reid had found an adult toy website that allowed for wedding registry and had put together quite an impressive wish list. Reid insists that he wouldn’t really have gone through with sending out this registry to their guest list, but he still likes to tease Luke about it from time to time.
Luke lowers his voice. “As a matter of fact, I think someone did buy something off your wish list. Something big and hard and…well, anyway, it arrived yesterday, and if you’d like to thank him…”
Reid closes his eyes as he feels his cock come to life. “You bastard,” he mutters. “How am I supposed to go out there and talk to a family when you tell me something like that?”
Luke grins impishly. “Consider it payback for the Groomzilla crack.” With that, he scampers off to make mischief, leaving Reid with a noticeable erection and no choice but to retreat to the nearest bathroom to handle the problem.
~*~*~*~*~*
Later that night, after a day spent mostly in bed trying out the new toy, Reid has his first real opportunity to reflect on things as Luke sleeps curled up beside him.
No union is more profound than marriage...
Reid has never held the married state in high regard. Either people stayed together or they didn’t. The only thing marriage did was complicate matters if people didn’t stay together. Then he’d met Luke, who believed in love and marriage in spite of growing up in one of the most dysfunctional families Reid had ever seen.
…for it embodies the highest ideals of love, fidelity, devotion, sacrifice, and family.
Reid still doesn’t care what people think about his sexuality or about his relationship with Luke. But he knows that Luke cares about being allowed to get married and having that marriage recognized everywhere. In a way, Reid’s come to feel something similar. He wants the world to know that Luke Snyder belongs to him, and that he belongs to Luke. As much as Reid might think marriage is antiquated, it’s still the surest and most visible way to show it.
In forming a marital union, two people become something greater than once they were.
Is this what will happen next Saturday when he stands beside Luke at Snyder Pond and makes his promises? Reid thinks about it and says to himself, yes. Luke makes him a better man. Reid does the same for Luke.
“Their hope is not to be condemned to live in loneliness,” Reid says softly. Even though he doesn’t think loneliness and marriage are mutually exclusive, he likes the sentiment. Had he been lonely before he’d met Luke? He’d never thought so before, and if there never had been a Luke in his life, he wouldn’t think so now. But there is Luke, and if there weren’t, Reid knows his life wouldn’t be as good as it is.
They ask for equal dignity in the eyes of the law. The Constitution grants them that right.
Reid smiles as his eyes drift shut. He might not care what a bunch of old fogies in black robes think about his love life, but he’s glad that five of them think enough of it to let him make Luke his husband in the eyes of the law.
Author: writergirl2006 (Dee)
Rating: PG-13.
Characters: Luke, Reid, various Oakdalians, named and unnamed.
Word Count: 1910.
Summary: Marriage equality comes to Oakdale…and the rest of the country as well.
Disclaimer: All fictional characters are the property of their original creators, and I earn nothing for writing about them, so they really shouldn’t think of suing me for doing so. In fact, I think the original creators should be flattered that five years after the show went off the air, their characters were so memorable that people continue to create new adventures for them. I just hope Justice Anthony Kennedy will forgive me for borrowing the last paragraph of his majority opinion for storytelling purposes.
Author’s Note: This story is for
1faghag, who wanted a drabble written in commemoration of the Supreme Court of the United States’ ruling on marriage equality. From the moment I read the last paragraph of the majority opinion, I knew I wanted to write something based on it. The dissenters took pot shots at the language Justice Kennedy used in the writing, but in my opinion, these people must have hearts of stone. That last paragraph was absolutely beautiful and encapsulated the heart of the matter. As for my offering, it’s unbeta’d and all mistakes are mine. I hope you enjoy it even if it can’t come close to touching the brilliance of that last paragraph. No union is more profound than marriage, for it embodies the highest ideals of love, fidelity, devotion, sacrifice, and family. In forming a marital union, two people become something greater than once they were. As some of the petitioners in these cases demonstrate, marriage embodies a love that may endure even past death. It would misunderstand these men and women to say they disrespect the idea of marriage. Their plea is that they do respect it, respect it so deeply that they seek to find its fulfillment for themselves. Their hope is not to be condemned to live in loneliness, excluded from one of civilization’s oldest institutions. They ask for equal dignity in the eyes of the law. The Constitution grants them that right. The judgment of the Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit is reversed.
It is so ordered.
From the U.S. Supreme Court majority opinion in Obergefell vs. Hodges, June 26, 2015.
Reid honestly doesn’t care what a bunch of old fogies in black robes think about his love life or whether or not they think he should be allowed to get married. But despite the fact that Luke and most of Oakdale thinks that Reid lives in a vacuum and doesn’t care for anything outside of Luke, brains, and food, Reid is well aware of what’s going on in Washington D.C.
When the decision is made public, Reid is exactly where he expected to be when he left the house at six in the morning on what is supposed to be his day off—in an O.R., still dealing with the aftermath of an unexpected brain bleed in a patient whose surgery should’ve taken place three days from now. The surgery is close to being done when his usual operating music—consisting of a mix of hits from the 80’s and early 90’s—is cut off in the middle of Tom Petty declaring he won’t back down. Reid barely registers the blip at first, but as the atmosphere of the operating room goes from tense to something more joyous, Reid realizes that something has happened. As the woman on the table still isn’t quite out of danger, he’s uncertain of what it is.
He glances up to see smiling eyes over surgical masks everywhere. “What?” he asks.
No one thinks it odd that Reid hasn’t listened to the news report which replaced Tom Petty, so it’s up to his favorite scrub nurse, Greta Halberk, to tell him. “The Supreme Court just ruled in favor of marriage equality.”
Reid lets that sink in for a few seconds before he says, “Okay, people, it’s what we expected to hear. Now it’s all over except for the number of divorces skyrocketing even further. Let’s get back to the more pressing concern of Ms. Corbin.”
There are a few surprised looks at Reid’s reaction to the news, but he doesn’t notice them. Jennifer Corbin is more important right now.
It’s another hour before Reid finishes with the patient and retreats to the scrub room to clean up. As he does so, he turns to an all-news station to hear the announcement in full. Someone observing him would have wondered at the enigmatic look on his face. Someone who knows him well will understand fully what he’s thinking, but there’s only one person who can claim that distinction.
Reid finishes up and heads out to speak with the family. It’s the part of his job that he likes the least but he knows it’s necessary. He finds his way blocked by a group of people standing outside the door. They’ve been waiting for him.
“We have the observation rooms upstairs if you want to watch genius at work,” Reid says. “The door limits your view.”
Then he notices that most of them aren’t hospital staff. In fact, most of them appear to be related to one Luke Snyder…
…who is on one knee, front and center, before him.
“No union is more profound than marriage,” Luke says, sounding as though he’s rehearsed this speech. “It embodies the highest ideals of love, fidelity, devotion, sacrifice, and family.”
Reid folds his arms over his chest. “Really, Luke?”
“In forming a marital union, two people become something greater than once they were. Marriage embodies a love that may endure even past death.”
“If reciting Supreme Court rulings is your idea of seduction, I have seriously overestimated your romantic soul,” Reid replies. “Most guys get Shakespeare or Keats. I get good ol’ Justice Kennedy.”
There’s some laughter at that, and Luke’s mouth twitches as well, but he soldiers on. “It would misunderstand these men and women to say they disrespect the idea of marriage. Their plea is that they do respect it, respect it so deeply that they seek to find its fulfillment for themselves. Their hope is not to be condemned to live in loneliness, excluded from one of civilization’s oldest institutions.”
“You do remember that we’re getting married next week, right? I refuse to believe you’ve forgotten, since you’ve essentially turned into Groomzilla since I asked you to marry me.” Which he had done in a far less embarrassing and far more romantic fashion than this, if Reid does say so himself.
Luke’s chest heaves with silent laughter and he looks down in a bid to regain his composure. He continues once he has done so. “Reid, when I agreed to marry you, it was with the knowledge that there were still places that would not accept that we were married. Today there’s no shadow over our marriage, no state in the country that can legally say we’re not husbands. Today, I’m asking you to marry me knowing that you can’t jump across the state line and say, ‘I live in this state now, where we’re not legally married, so screw you.’”
Reid knows he should be offended that Luke thinks he’d ever do something like that, but he isn’t. He’s come to know Luke well enough to understand that a scenario like that is one of Luke’s deepest-held fears. And truth be told, there’s a small part of Reid that fears the same thing.
“Of course I’ll marry you,” he says. “I wanted to marry you a year ago when Illinois made it legal, and I’m hardly going to change my mind now just because the rest of the country’s playing catch-up.”
The people around them—and it seems to Reid as though this number has multiplied in leaps and bounds since he walked out of the O.R.—collectively go “aww” and there are a couple of happy sniffles. (Reid’s pretty sure he spied Nurse Gretchen in the crowd.) Reid hardly notices them because his attention remains focused on the man kneeling before him.
“So now that we’re both on the same page, get up off that floor. There are probably more germs on it than can be found in a petri dish. The last thing I want is for you to get an infection, wind up in the hospital, and miss out on that shindig you’ve been overplanning since the last time this question was asked.”
Luke finally lets go of the laugh he’s held in this whole time and clambers to his feet. As the crowd disperses to get back to what they should be doing, Luke closes the distance between them, takes Reid’s face in his hands, and gives him a firm kiss. He presses his forehead to Reid’s and says, “I love you.”
“I love you, too. Even if you are the biggest drama queen I’ve ever met in my life.”
Luke snorts. “Did you have to call me Groomzilla in front of everyone?”
“Hey, when even Katie says you’re going overboard, you know you have a problem.” Reid gives Luke a quick kiss before he pulls away. “I have to go let the Corbins know she’s going to make it, but after that I’m free for the day. You want to spend it celebrating marriage equality the best way I know how?”
“By helping me write out thank you cards for the gifts we’ve already received?”
“Only if we received any of the gifts I wanted to register for.”
Luke blushes. Reid had found an adult toy website that allowed for wedding registry and had put together quite an impressive wish list. Reid insists that he wouldn’t really have gone through with sending out this registry to their guest list, but he still likes to tease Luke about it from time to time.
Luke lowers his voice. “As a matter of fact, I think someone did buy something off your wish list. Something big and hard and…well, anyway, it arrived yesterday, and if you’d like to thank him…”
Reid closes his eyes as he feels his cock come to life. “You bastard,” he mutters. “How am I supposed to go out there and talk to a family when you tell me something like that?”
Luke grins impishly. “Consider it payback for the Groomzilla crack.” With that, he scampers off to make mischief, leaving Reid with a noticeable erection and no choice but to retreat to the nearest bathroom to handle the problem.
Later that night, after a day spent mostly in bed trying out the new toy, Reid has his first real opportunity to reflect on things as Luke sleeps curled up beside him.
No union is more profound than marriage...
Reid has never held the married state in high regard. Either people stayed together or they didn’t. The only thing marriage did was complicate matters if people didn’t stay together. Then he’d met Luke, who believed in love and marriage in spite of growing up in one of the most dysfunctional families Reid had ever seen.
…for it embodies the highest ideals of love, fidelity, devotion, sacrifice, and family.
Reid still doesn’t care what people think about his sexuality or about his relationship with Luke. But he knows that Luke cares about being allowed to get married and having that marriage recognized everywhere. In a way, Reid’s come to feel something similar. He wants the world to know that Luke Snyder belongs to him, and that he belongs to Luke. As much as Reid might think marriage is antiquated, it’s still the surest and most visible way to show it.
In forming a marital union, two people become something greater than once they were.
Is this what will happen next Saturday when he stands beside Luke at Snyder Pond and makes his promises? Reid thinks about it and says to himself, yes. Luke makes him a better man. Reid does the same for Luke.
“Their hope is not to be condemned to live in loneliness,” Reid says softly. Even though he doesn’t think loneliness and marriage are mutually exclusive, he likes the sentiment. Had he been lonely before he’d met Luke? He’d never thought so before, and if there never had been a Luke in his life, he wouldn’t think so now. But there is Luke, and if there weren’t, Reid knows his life wouldn’t be as good as it is.
They ask for equal dignity in the eyes of the law. The Constitution grants them that right.
Reid smiles as his eyes drift shut. He might not care what a bunch of old fogies in black robes think about his love life, but he’s glad that five of them think enough of it to let him make Luke his husband in the eyes of the law.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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Date: 2015-06-29 01:03 am (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2015-06-29 06:03 am (UTC)Lovely!
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Date: 2015-06-29 11:56 pm (UTC)They sure are! Thanks for reading! :)
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Date: 2015-06-29 11:58 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-06-29 11:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-06-29 01:42 pm (UTC)Groomzilla... LOL... I can totally imagine Luke acting all crazy before his wedding! ;)
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Date: 2015-06-29 11:56 pm (UTC)And then Reid getting panicky the day of because he's convinced something's going to go wrong after all Luke's planning and, well, this IS Oakdale...hmm. Maybe I'll write that one some day.
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Date: 2015-06-30 07:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-06-29 07:55 pm (UTC)I am a bit curious of groomzilla if even Katie is surprised.
Great story to celabrate.
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Date: 2015-06-30 12:00 am (UTC)And given how much experience she had with weddings, it really would've been saying something.
Glad you liked the story! :)
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Date: 2015-06-30 01:27 pm (UTC)AGAIN THANK YOU!!!
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