In All Your Darkest Hours, Ch. 21/?
Title: In All Your Darkest Hours, Ch. 21/?
Author:
jacob1206
Rating: This chapter is R, for language. Ratings will vary by chapter.
Summary: Bob and Lucinda begin telling their story to Reid.
Disclaimer: I own nothing, mean no harm and make no money from this fic. I am not a medical professional nor do I play one on TV (though I do lust after someone who played one on TV). I’ve put enough research into the medical details here to be dangerous so please take all that with a grain of salt.
Author's notes: As in previous chapters, this chapter shifts between Reid and Katie’s present day discussion, and the events that happened in the month leading up to it.
In All Your Darkest Hours
Chapter 21
Present day
“But why? Why would Spencer want you to marry Tosh?”
He looked so tired. I could tell that the conversation was wearing on him. I wanted to stop asking questions, to give him a rest, to make the pain go away.
But I couldn’t help him if I didn’t know what was happening. And he couldn’t stop now. He needed to let it out.
“For the two oldest reasons in the book, Katie: love and revenge.”
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
2 weeks earlier
“No, really Bob,” Reid asked, “what do you two need to talk to me about?”
Bob got up from behind the desk and walked towards him, his face uncharacteristically somber.
“Reid, you need to sit down.”
He looked over at Lucinda, feeling a knot in his stomach when he saw she was pale as a ghost.
“Listen, I appreciate the whole….” he began, waving his hands in front of his face in an animated fashion, “…let’s see if we can freak Reid out thing. I don’t get your motivation, but whatever. However, this is a little far-fetched, even for Oakdale, don’t you think?.” He grinned, then started to laugh heartily.
“It’s pretty funny, really. I mean why would Spencer Whitfield want me to marry Tosh?” His laughing grew louder and a bit more enthusiastic, as Bob and Lucinda gazed at him. Their eyes didn’t waver.
“Reid, I’m afraid this is quite serious,” Bob whispered, gently touching his elbow.
Reid’s laughing broke then. “Come on, this is just too ridiculous. I just don’t understand why you’re trying to pull this over on me. It’s kind of juvenile, isn’t it?”
“Reid,” Lucinda said softly. “We need to talk to you. Please….” she said, pointing to the seat.
His eyes shifted between them, as realization began to dawn.
“You’re fucking kidding me, right? He wants me to marry Tosh? Seriously?”
“He does Reid. And I’m afraid he’s determined.”
“This is fucking nuts. First, I love Luke so there’s no way in hell I’m going to marry Tosh Whitfield,” he snapped, his body tensing with anger. “Second, I have no reason to want to marry Tosh Whitfield. And third, that’s just too damned bad, but Daddy Whitfield can kiss my ass. I’m not doing it. Why in the hell does he think I would?”
“Lucinda and I….Reid….we have to tell you why he’s made this demand and why he thinks he has some leverage. It has to do with us. And Tosh’s mother. I’m just so sorry that you’ve gotten pulled into all this.”
“You? And Lucinda? And Tosh’s mother?” Reid rubbed his temples, looking at them both. “Bob, I have no fucking idea what you’re talking about.”
“Just sit and let me try to explain.”
Bob drew in a deep breath then exhaled. “Reid, Tosh Whitfield was born in this hospital.”
“What? Here?”
“He was born here, about 30 years ago. I was good friends with his parents, Spence and Juliet.”
“Juliet…she was my best friend,” Lucinda interjected. “She and I had known each other since we were girls. I loved her…” she halted, just for a moment, mustering all of her strength, “…like a sister.”
Taking a deep breath, she continued. “We graduated from college together. I was the one who introduced her to Spencer. I was the maid of honor at her wedding…” Her voice drifted off as she wiped the back of her hand across her cheek. “They were incredibly in love Reid, Spence and Juliet. Similar to you and Luke. They would have done anything for one another, and when she became pregnant, they were over the moon. We all were. We were so happy for them.”
Reid continued to shift his gaze between Bob and Lucinda, trying to grasp how any of this involved him. “This is fascinating, truly, but I don’t understand what this has to do with me.”
“Reid,” Bob said, breaking back in. “I was also Juliet’s doctor at the time. She had been having some problems with blood pressure and fainting before she became pregnant. I’d been concerned about her for some time, as we hadn’t been able to pinpoint the problem. She and Spence didn’t tell me that they were trying to have a baby and when we discovering that she was expecting, my concerns were elevated. You see, Juliet had a stroke when she was younger.”
“A stroke?”
“Yes, of undetermined origin. As her doctor, we had a lot of frank conversations during that time Reid. Her baby was her only priority. She wanted to make sure he was safe and protected. She insisted that we talk through all the possibilities - what might happen if she became ill, or worse, incapacitated.”
Reid’s wheels started turning. “So this was, when?”
“1981. She told me that she wanted me to take her off life support if anything ever happened. She was adamant. She made me….promise.”
“She talked to me about it too, Reid,” Lucinda added, pressing four fingers to her forehead. “She asked me to make sure the baby was okay and to let her go if she was on life support. She said her life would be complete if she could bring him into the world. She didn’t want to die, but she was very practical. She didn’t want to put Spencer through that if something happened, but she didn’t want us to talk to him about it either. She thought it would hurt him too much to even consider the possibility. But honestly, neither Bob nor I thought it would ever be an issue.”
Both Bob and Lucinda dropped their heads.
“And?”
Bob looked at Lucinda and approached her, putting a soft hand over hers and handing her a tissue as her eyes welled with tears. “We were wrong.”
Reid’s legs, which had been shaking with nervous energy, stilled. “Wh- what happened?”
Bob continued with the story as Lucinda tried to compose herself. “The pregnancy went well. Everything was fine when she went into labor. We were all in the delivery room. Me. Spencer…Lucinda was there - then when Benjamin was born, we were celebrating….”
He heard a small noise escape from Lucinda’s throat, suffering again as she relived the memory of the last lucid moments with her friend.
“You said Benjamin?”
“Yes, Benjamin.” Bob continued to explain, returning to his chair as his stamina was waning. “That was Tosh’s given name. Spencer changed it later, in the hopes that we wouldn’t find him. We didn’t find out about that until he came to see us after Tosh was admitted to the hospital.”
Bob faced Lucinda and she nodded her head slightly, giving him permission to share the rest. “Within moments after he was born, everything started going wrong - very quickly.”
“What do you mean?”
“She had a stroke Reid. Just after the delivery. I tried to save her….” Bob could feel his heart clutch in his chest, remembering those moments that were still so vivid, his words barking out to everyone, anyone, doing anything he could to help her...
“Spence, Lucinda, you’ve got to get out of here! We’ve got to move fast. Get out NOW!”
“Nurse, get neuro down here, stat!”
“Juliet, Juliet! Can you hear me? Can you see me?”
Then he heard her voice again, in his memory, barely there, struggling, her eyes wide with fear.
“B….b…..b…..no….no…. not….mac…mach…een…no….B…”
As she crashed, he remembered the voices again, his own, panicked and desperate, as well as those of the neurologist and nurses who worked to save her life.
“No, Juliet! Somebody stop that damned noise! Stop!! Juliet! Fight Juliet! Fight for Spence! Fight for Ben!
“Come on back now. Come on. Please, please….”
“Dr. Hughes? Dr. Silver from neuro is here.”
“Thank God you’re here Bill. Quickly, please. One of her pupils is blown. No reactivity to light. No response to verbal stimuli. No pain response.”
“Bob? How long has she been nonresponsive? Is she comatose?”
“I don’t know. I don’t know.”
“So, she was in a coma?” Reid asked, already knowing the answer.
“Yes, she was,” Bob replied, nodding his head slowly, then looking Reid straight in the eye. “We did everything we could. Tried everything at our disposal at that time. It was just too late.”
“Spencer was insistent that we keep her on life support., Reid,” Lucinda said as she spoke up again. He could tell how close she had been to them as he’d never seen her so emotional before. “He had such faith back then, faith that she would come back to him. He was so in love with her, he truly was…I just can’t imagine….”
“But she wasn’t coming back was she?”
“No, she wasn’t,” she confirmed, her voice trembling.
“So we did the only thing we could do. Lucinda and I, we felt….we felt like we had to find a way…to abide by her wishes Reid.”
“Bob, the living will directive laws weren’t in effect then. It didn’t pass in Illinois until 1984. You couldn’t legally do anything, not then.”
Bob drew in a deep breath.
“No, we couldn’t.”
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Present day
“Oh my God Reid. What did they do?”
Author:
jacob1206
Rating: This chapter is R, for language. Ratings will vary by chapter.
Summary: Bob and Lucinda begin telling their story to Reid.
Disclaimer: I own nothing, mean no harm and make no money from this fic. I am not a medical professional nor do I play one on TV (though I do lust after someone who played one on TV). I’ve put enough research into the medical details here to be dangerous so please take all that with a grain of salt.
Author's notes: As in previous chapters, this chapter shifts between Reid and Katie’s present day discussion, and the events that happened in the month leading up to it.
In All Your Darkest Hours
Chapter 21
Present day
“But why? Why would Spencer want you to marry Tosh?”
He looked so tired. I could tell that the conversation was wearing on him. I wanted to stop asking questions, to give him a rest, to make the pain go away.
But I couldn’t help him if I didn’t know what was happening. And he couldn’t stop now. He needed to let it out.
“For the two oldest reasons in the book, Katie: love and revenge.”
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
2 weeks earlier
“No, really Bob,” Reid asked, “what do you two need to talk to me about?”
Bob got up from behind the desk and walked towards him, his face uncharacteristically somber.
“Reid, you need to sit down.”
He looked over at Lucinda, feeling a knot in his stomach when he saw she was pale as a ghost.
“Listen, I appreciate the whole….” he began, waving his hands in front of his face in an animated fashion, “…let’s see if we can freak Reid out thing. I don’t get your motivation, but whatever. However, this is a little far-fetched, even for Oakdale, don’t you think?.” He grinned, then started to laugh heartily.
“It’s pretty funny, really. I mean why would Spencer Whitfield want me to marry Tosh?” His laughing grew louder and a bit more enthusiastic, as Bob and Lucinda gazed at him. Their eyes didn’t waver.
“Reid, I’m afraid this is quite serious,” Bob whispered, gently touching his elbow.
Reid’s laughing broke then. “Come on, this is just too ridiculous. I just don’t understand why you’re trying to pull this over on me. It’s kind of juvenile, isn’t it?”
“Reid,” Lucinda said softly. “We need to talk to you. Please….” she said, pointing to the seat.
His eyes shifted between them, as realization began to dawn.
“You’re fucking kidding me, right? He wants me to marry Tosh? Seriously?”
“He does Reid. And I’m afraid he’s determined.”
“This is fucking nuts. First, I love Luke so there’s no way in hell I’m going to marry Tosh Whitfield,” he snapped, his body tensing with anger. “Second, I have no reason to want to marry Tosh Whitfield. And third, that’s just too damned bad, but Daddy Whitfield can kiss my ass. I’m not doing it. Why in the hell does he think I would?”
“Lucinda and I….Reid….we have to tell you why he’s made this demand and why he thinks he has some leverage. It has to do with us. And Tosh’s mother. I’m just so sorry that you’ve gotten pulled into all this.”
“You? And Lucinda? And Tosh’s mother?” Reid rubbed his temples, looking at them both. “Bob, I have no fucking idea what you’re talking about.”
“Just sit and let me try to explain.”
Bob drew in a deep breath then exhaled. “Reid, Tosh Whitfield was born in this hospital.”
“What? Here?”
“He was born here, about 30 years ago. I was good friends with his parents, Spence and Juliet.”
“Juliet…she was my best friend,” Lucinda interjected. “She and I had known each other since we were girls. I loved her…” she halted, just for a moment, mustering all of her strength, “…like a sister.”
Taking a deep breath, she continued. “We graduated from college together. I was the one who introduced her to Spencer. I was the maid of honor at her wedding…” Her voice drifted off as she wiped the back of her hand across her cheek. “They were incredibly in love Reid, Spence and Juliet. Similar to you and Luke. They would have done anything for one another, and when she became pregnant, they were over the moon. We all were. We were so happy for them.”
Reid continued to shift his gaze between Bob and Lucinda, trying to grasp how any of this involved him. “This is fascinating, truly, but I don’t understand what this has to do with me.”
“Reid,” Bob said, breaking back in. “I was also Juliet’s doctor at the time. She had been having some problems with blood pressure and fainting before she became pregnant. I’d been concerned about her for some time, as we hadn’t been able to pinpoint the problem. She and Spence didn’t tell me that they were trying to have a baby and when we discovering that she was expecting, my concerns were elevated. You see, Juliet had a stroke when she was younger.”
“A stroke?”
“Yes, of undetermined origin. As her doctor, we had a lot of frank conversations during that time Reid. Her baby was her only priority. She wanted to make sure he was safe and protected. She insisted that we talk through all the possibilities - what might happen if she became ill, or worse, incapacitated.”
Reid’s wheels started turning. “So this was, when?”
“1981. She told me that she wanted me to take her off life support if anything ever happened. She was adamant. She made me….promise.”
“She talked to me about it too, Reid,” Lucinda added, pressing four fingers to her forehead. “She asked me to make sure the baby was okay and to let her go if she was on life support. She said her life would be complete if she could bring him into the world. She didn’t want to die, but she was very practical. She didn’t want to put Spencer through that if something happened, but she didn’t want us to talk to him about it either. She thought it would hurt him too much to even consider the possibility. But honestly, neither Bob nor I thought it would ever be an issue.”
Both Bob and Lucinda dropped their heads.
“And?”
Bob looked at Lucinda and approached her, putting a soft hand over hers and handing her a tissue as her eyes welled with tears. “We were wrong.”
Reid’s legs, which had been shaking with nervous energy, stilled. “Wh- what happened?”
Bob continued with the story as Lucinda tried to compose herself. “The pregnancy went well. Everything was fine when she went into labor. We were all in the delivery room. Me. Spencer…Lucinda was there - then when Benjamin was born, we were celebrating….”
He heard a small noise escape from Lucinda’s throat, suffering again as she relived the memory of the last lucid moments with her friend.
“You said Benjamin?”
“Yes, Benjamin.” Bob continued to explain, returning to his chair as his stamina was waning. “That was Tosh’s given name. Spencer changed it later, in the hopes that we wouldn’t find him. We didn’t find out about that until he came to see us after Tosh was admitted to the hospital.”
Bob faced Lucinda and she nodded her head slightly, giving him permission to share the rest. “Within moments after he was born, everything started going wrong - very quickly.”
“What do you mean?”
“She had a stroke Reid. Just after the delivery. I tried to save her….” Bob could feel his heart clutch in his chest, remembering those moments that were still so vivid, his words barking out to everyone, anyone, doing anything he could to help her...
“Spence, Lucinda, you’ve got to get out of here! We’ve got to move fast. Get out NOW!”
“Nurse, get neuro down here, stat!”
“Juliet, Juliet! Can you hear me? Can you see me?”
Then he heard her voice again, in his memory, barely there, struggling, her eyes wide with fear.
“B….b…..b…..no….no…. not….mac…mach…een…no….B…”
As she crashed, he remembered the voices again, his own, panicked and desperate, as well as those of the neurologist and nurses who worked to save her life.
“No, Juliet! Somebody stop that damned noise! Stop!! Juliet! Fight Juliet! Fight for Spence! Fight for Ben!
“Come on back now. Come on. Please, please….”
“Dr. Hughes? Dr. Silver from neuro is here.”
“Thank God you’re here Bill. Quickly, please. One of her pupils is blown. No reactivity to light. No response to verbal stimuli. No pain response.”
“Bob? How long has she been nonresponsive? Is she comatose?”
“I don’t know. I don’t know.”
“So, she was in a coma?” Reid asked, already knowing the answer.
“Yes, she was,” Bob replied, nodding his head slowly, then looking Reid straight in the eye. “We did everything we could. Tried everything at our disposal at that time. It was just too late.”
“Spencer was insistent that we keep her on life support., Reid,” Lucinda said as she spoke up again. He could tell how close she had been to them as he’d never seen her so emotional before. “He had such faith back then, faith that she would come back to him. He was so in love with her, he truly was…I just can’t imagine….”
“But she wasn’t coming back was she?”
“No, she wasn’t,” she confirmed, her voice trembling.
“So we did the only thing we could do. Lucinda and I, we felt….we felt like we had to find a way…to abide by her wishes Reid.”
“Bob, the living will directive laws weren’t in effect then. It didn’t pass in Illinois until 1984. You couldn’t legally do anything, not then.”
Bob drew in a deep breath.
“No, we couldn’t.”
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Present day
“Oh my God Reid. What did they do?”