The Hospital

Part 6

As soon as Reid was paged with word that Luke had gone under the anesthesia with no problems, he left the group in the waiting area and made a beeline for his office. He had no intention of sitting there stewing over things while the gathered family and friends stared at him with looks that were a combination of pity and overabundant concern.

Scanning the folders on his desk, he ignored them all and instead opened the center drawer of his file cabinet, filled with paper copies of each of the cases he had handled personally during his years at Memorial. Further pulling out the middle drawer, he eyed the folder that held its place dead center. His first case in Oakdale was centermost of everything. He huffed, amused at how a last name set this patient smack in the middle, central to everything that had impacted Reid’s future since his arrival in Oakdale -- changing his life forever.

Noah Mayer. He gave a whole new meaning to the consequences for playing with fireworks. Mr. Mayer knew the consequences but instead foolishly held his career uppermost in importance. It was only then that Luciano had used all the Grimaldi strategies and manipulations he’d learned over the years to get Reid to come to Oakdale and agree to operate on Noah.

But all it took was simple Luke Snyder to give him a reason to stay.

“Someday I’ll have to thank Noah for being a careless jackass. Careless with props and careless with the person he supposedly loved.”

“I guess that means giving Noah his sight back doesn’t even the score, by a long shot.”

Startled by his office door unexpectedly swinging open, Reid nearly dropped the folder on the floor. Fumbling slightly, he replaced it in the cabinet’s drawer, slamming it shut. “What the hell happened to my secretary? She was supposed to keep everyone out.”

“I told her I’d watch the desk so she could use the restroom.”

“Very tricky, Mrs. Snyder.”

“Emma is Mrs. Snyder. How about we stick to Carly and Reid -- then there’s no mistaking who we’re talking about?”

Reid smiled. Carly was certainly a handful, but Jack seemed to love her enough to marry her... twice. I guess being a police officer wasn’t challenging enough, he needed excitement 24/7. “What brings you here?”

“Jack’s in recovery. He’s fine.”

“I’m glad.”

“Now it’s all up to Luke.” Carly glanced around the room, resting her gaze on a picture of Luke and Reid taken during their commitment ceremony. “He won’t reject Jack’s kidney.”

“Are you psychic?”

“No, I just know this family. I’ve known Luke forever. He has no intention of leaving you any time soon.”

“What makes you say that?”

“Watching you over the years. You two are perfect together.” She paused momentarily, running her fingers over a model of the human brain sitting on the corner of Reid’s desk. “Do you remember when my cousin nearly married Holden?”

“Your cousin?”

Carly rolled her eyes. “Molly -- Abigail’s mom.”

Thinking for a moment, Reid finally remembered the aborted wedding years earlier. It was the moment Luke’s parents began to face the fact that neither would ever be happy without the other. “I seem to recall that bizarre afternoon. You got hurt... or so you said.”

Laughing, Carly’s eyes lit up. “It was a great stalling tactic, especially since I did it so well that I actually did twist my ankle.”

“Method acting -- I’m impressed.”

“I remember even back then noticing how Luke watched your every move. He could barely take his eyes off you. When he looked at you, his eyes were bright despite the disaster of the day. Having you with him made the misery worthwhile.”

“Sounds like you’re adding an overly romantic twist to the day. My hypothesis is you tend toward waxing philosophical.”

“Not usually.” Carly took a seat on the sofa. “In your case it’s easy to see because neither you nor Luke hide how you feel.”

Chuckling, Reid sat at the opposite end of the sofa facing his uninvited, but amusing, guest.

“What’s so funny?”

“I’m not sure Luke would agree. He thinks I still do my level best to hide what I feel.”

“Then he’s blind and maybe you should have tackled his brain after you fixed Noah’s.”

“Romance is not something I’m very good at.”

“That’s bull.” Carly sat up and glared at Reid. “I was at your commitment ceremony. The way you looked at Luke -- there was no mistaking the emotion we were all witnessing.”

“Stage fright?”

“No! Love. You really are clueless, or in complete denial.” She sighed. “You do realize that next to Bob and Kim, you probably have the longest uninterrupted relationship in Oakdale.”

Reid laughed out loud. “You don’t mince words, do you?”

“Never about love.”

“You and Jack got married before we did.”

“We had our ceremony first, but you two were together longer. You told Abigail you were together the day of the non-wedding.”

“Does no one in this town keep their mouth shut?”

“Technically Abigail doesn’t live in Oakdale, so it doesn’t count. She did mention something to her mother about her little brother having better luck finding a man than she did.”

Smiling Reid stood up and poured Carly and himself a glass of water from a large pitcher on the side of his desk. “Poor Abigail. Is she still chasing married men?”

“Touché, Dr. Oliver.”

“Reid, remember.”

Carly nodded and took a sip of her water.

“So why are you here? Were you elected to drag me back to the waiting arms of our nearest and dearest so they could fawn all over me and depress me while I wait to hear that Luke’s out of surgery?”

“You must think we have a fine-tuned strategy. Sorry, no such plan. I’m here because you shouldn’t be alone with all your thoughts about the complications that can arise in any surgery, let alone one as serious as a transplant.”

Reid bit his lip and gazed at a recent picture of he and Luke propped up on his desk. It had been taken by Parker when they were watching the kids swimming at Snyder Pond. “The end of surgery won’t mean an end to worrying. We still have to watch for signs of rejection.”

“Luke won’t reject Jack’s kidney.”

“How the hell--” Reid choked on his fear-driven words. He regained his composure and continued. “How do you know that? Are we back to the psychic crap?”

“Holden wouldn’t let that happen.”

“Holden’s dead.”

“His spirit lives on in both Jack and Luke. Remember how surprised all the doctor’s were at how close a match the tests showed Jack to be to Luke, and they’re not even blood relations.”

Reid nodded. It was uncanny. It couldn’t have been closer if Jack had been Luke’s natural uncle.

“It’s a shame Ethan and Natalie were so young when their parents died.” Carly ran a finger around the rim of her glass.

“Ethan barely remembers Holden.” Reid took a sip of his water. “I’ve watched him and Luke sit in front of the television and view old family films of Thanksgivings, Christmases, baseball games. Luke gets lost in the memories and tries to somehow help Ethan sustain the few he has left. It’s almost too painful to witness because there’s nothing I can do.”

“You’re there for both of them. My guess is you do a hell of a lot more than you think just by being there to support them and let them keep those memories alive.”

Reid hated watching Ethan’s memories fade to whatever was captured on the aging videos, now converted to DVDs. At this point Reid’s memories of Holden and Lily were far more vivid than Ethan’s. It didn’t seem fair.

There was no way he was going to let Luke become a distant memory too... for any of them. He felt a physical pain in his gut just thinking about that possibility.

“So how are the wedding plans going?”

“Nice change of subject. Not even an attempt at a segue.” Carly laughed. She had a lovely, bright smile. In some ways it reminded him of Luke’s.

“Are Faith and Parker actually going to get married this time or is Ms. Emotional going to fly the coop for the second time?”

“She was postpartum during the last attempt. It probably wasn’t the best time to be contemplating marriage, not while she was still nursing the baby.”

“Does that mean she’ll make it down the aisle? Luke’s counting on walking her.”

“Parker and Faith have both grown up a lot during the past year. It’ll happen.”

“Good. Reception food tastes even better when people are happy about the event, not splitting up the remnants of a disaster.” Reid smirked.

“Right, cause all you care about is the food.”

“Of course, that’s the only reason to go through with those archaic ceremonies.”

“I’ve got your number, Reid. You are such a phony.” Carly stood up and rested a hand on Reid’s shoulder just as the phone rang. His secretary must have picked it up as it silenced after one ring.

The intercom buzzer nearly made him jump since he’d given explicit instructions not to be disturbed. “What?”

“It’s Dr. Walker calling.”

Reid grabbed the phone. “Are you finished?”

“Yes. I’ll come to your office in about fifteen minutes. We’ll talk then. There’s something we need to discuss and I’d like to do it privately.”

Hanging up the phone, Reid stared at it like it was a foreign object.

Carly tapped him on the arm. “It’s over?”

Reid nodded, unable to form any coherent words -- his mind racing with all kinds of scenarios.

“Well?”

“I don’t know. Dr. Walker’s on her way up.”

“Do you want me to get Ethan?”

“No! Not until I know everything.”

“Well I think someone should be here with you when you get the news. And don’t give me any of that crap about being alone. I don’t buy it for a minute.”

Reid thought a minute. He glanced back at the file cabinet, reminded again about how it all started. Not sure if he was making a mistake, he asked anyway. “Send in Noah and Mark.”

“Okay.” Carly kissed Reid’s cheek and left him alone, tossing over her shoulder before she opened the door. “I’m sure it’s all good news, but I’ll let you have your moment to stew.”

Less than five minutes later Noah and Mark were announced. Reid had his secretary send them in. Seated in his desk chair, Reid looked up at both of them. “Dr. Walker is on her way.”

Noah took a deep breath. “If she’s half as good as you, Luke will be fine.”

Reid snorted. “She’s better than me at what she does.” Noah’s eyes widened, appearing shocked by Reid’s admission. “You’d better be right. He has to be alright.”

[TBC]
 

Return to The Hospital