Chapter Six
Gabriel burst into tears the moment Reid touched him, which Reid definitely hadn’t been expecting from the barely-there pressure on the top of his arm. Especially from Gabriel, who seemed to err on the stoic side and hadn’t been overly expressive before now.
Reid took his hand away, went to pour Gabriel a glass of water from the cooler, and put a box of tissues next to him. He had no idea what was going on, but he’d have to deal with it.
“Take your time, tell me about it when you’re ready.”
“I’m sorry,” Gabriel said. “I’ve just been in so much pain all day and I haven’t felt like I could relax until now and everythinghurts.”
Reid’s heart sank. Something had obviously gone wrong, or he’d missed something, and now Gabriel was paying for it.
It was nice that Gabriel felt he could relax around him, though. That was a level of trust he suspected Gabriel didn’t extend to a lot of people.
“What happened?” Reid asked, pushing past the urge to blame himself and instead focusing on the solution.
“I know you said I needed to start with five extra minutes of walking a day, plus exercises, but… yesterday was such a nice day, and I wasn’t in a whole lot of pain, and I figured that since walking makes me feel better, walkingmorewould improve on that. And that was great until I forgot to eat after and laid down for a nap and then woke up this morning in a lot of pain.”
Reid breathed a tiny sigh of relief. He hadn’t screwed up, and Gabriel hadn’t done any serious or lasting damage. He’d just overworked his already stressed muscles and now he was suffering.
“That’s why you’re supposed to work up to more. It’s not rocket science,” Reid said, keeping his tone kind. Gabriel wasn’t an idiot, but he could probably use a laugh right about now.
“That’s why I’m struggling with it. Rocket science, I can do.” Gabriel smiled wryly. That was a good sign.
“I don’t think rocket science is the technical term,” Reid said, hoping to distract him while he moved around behind Gabriel to grab some soothing gel. “Pants and shirt off,” he added.
“The technical term is astronautical engineering, in my case. There are other kinds. Am I going to die? Because it feels that way,” Gabriel said as he took his shirt off.
“You’re not gonna die,” Reid assured him, fairly certain that Gabriel didn’t actually think that.
Gabriel folded his shirt and pants and set them beside him on the examination table, sitting back down in his socks and underwear.
“You’ve just overworked your muscles. It’s not ideal, but you’ll recover.” Reid set the gel down on the examination table, beside Gabriel’s clothes, and went to his desk to grab a protein bar.
“Are you allergic to anything other than almonds?”
“Other than that tape, not that I know of,” Gabriel said. “I’m amazed you remembered.”
Reid blushed. He paid a lot of attention to Gabriel, and that wasn’t going unnoticed anymore.
“Good. Eat this,” he handed the bar over to Gabriel. “Let me know what you think.”
“Will this make me feel better?” Gabriel asked, unwrapping it as Reid moved behind him again.
“You do need the protein,” Reid said. “But it's mostly to keep you quiet.”
“Are you this nice to all your patients, or am I just lucky?” Gabriel asked, but there was laughter in his voice. That was good. Distracting him could only help.
“Just lucky,” Reid responded. “I’m doing this because I like you.”
“I’d hate for you to hate me,” Gabriel mumbled around a mouthful of protein bar. “This is good,” he added.
“Yeah?” Reid asked, warming the gel up between his hands a little before he started working it into Gabriel’s shoulders.
“Yeah, it's exactly like cake batter. It's even got the baking soda taste right. And sprinkles,” Gabriel said, sounding genuinely delighted. “I like it.”
“Well, behave yourself and I'll give you another one to take home with you. The company sent me a case of samples.”
“Perks of the job?”
