Fragile 12/?
Title: Fragile
Author: sajaal
Rating: pg13 - NC17 (language)
Characters: Luke, Cal Stricklyn, Reid, Casey, Ali, Noah, other Oakdalian’s mentioned.
Disclaimers’: I do not own any of them…it would be nice though, sigh.
Summary: Luke never met Dr. Reid Oliver when he came to Oakdale to perform Noah’s surgery. Luke comes back after he leaves and Luke and Noah are still together (for a little while)…Luke ends up in rehab and that changes him and the course of his life. He meets Dr. Reid Oliver in Dallas in the fall of 2012...
Fragile, like a baby in your arms.
Be gentle with me.
I’d never willingly,
Do you harm.
Weaknesses,
You know each and every one,
But I need to drink,
More than you seem to think,
Before I’m anyone’s,
And you know
“It’s a Question of Lust”; Depeche Mode
Chapter #12
After a quick call with Donal and Martin who had all agreed about the MRA , they all had to cut the conversation short as the results for the MRA came in.
As 11:00 am rolled by, Luke was beginning to feel worse, and he was desperately trying to stay awake and focussed. He almost cried out with relief when Reid came walking down the hall, his expression gave nothing away as he came up to Luke, Lily and Holden.
“Well, everyone I will get right down to it for you, Mr. Stricklyn has what is called a cerebral arteriovenous malformation or AVM for short,” Reid began to explain, to the wide eyes and gaping mouths of Luke, Lily and Holden.
“What is that, AVM?” Lily stammered.
“It's an abnormal connection between the arteries and veins of the brain, the most common symptoms are headaches and seizures, but progressive weakness and numbness is also common.” Reid continued.
“But how did this happen? What causes AVM?” Holden asked.
“Actually, Mr. Stricklyn has had it all of his life, it usually occurs in prenatal development,” Reid explained.
“Why would we have not known earlier? He was paralyzed a few years ago, would we have not seen it at that time?” Lily inquired.
“Cal, was paralyzed, I didn’t know that,” Luke cut in, “Must be something in the family since I was paralyzed once too, back in Oakdale.”
“Cal, was in Oakdale at the time, it was a terrible accident,” Holden replied.
“Are we finished going down the twisted memory lane of Oakdale...What it it with that town, blindness, paralysis...” Reid said sarcastically.
“Oh sorry Dr. Oliver, please continue,” Lily replied, ignoring Reid’s comments.
“As I was saying, the AVM’s are small and we can treat Mr. Sticklyn’s symptoms with pain medication for now but we will need to discuss tome other treatment options. The longer we wait the more concern there is for possible bleeding in the brain and a risk of an aneurysm as well,” Reid continued to explain.
“Oh, my god!” exclaimed Lily “An aneurysm, would be terrible, we will look for your expertise with this Dr. Oliver, this is all very overwhelming.”
“Mr. Sticklyn, will be given the best of care and we will look at all the possible treatments available. No decisions need to be made yet, he will stay in the hospital for a few days so we can monitor his condition more closely,” Reid told them.
“Why did the symptoms start now?” Luke finally asked.
“I can’t answer that for you Mr. Snyder, many people live normal lives with this condition, and others have aneurysms or bleeding on the brain. Each individual is different, it is one of those mystery’s that intrigue and confound, brilliant neurologists like myself,” Reid explained, “If that’s all I will check in on Mr. Stricklyn one more time then finish my rounds, and after a good nights rest we can discuss treatment options.”
“Dr. Oliver, is Cal okay now, do you need to do neuro-surgery?” Holden asked.
“I hope not Mr. Snyder, Cal although healthy is older and some treatments may be more harmful. As I said, let’s revisit this tomorrow and let Mr. Stricklyn rest comfortably,” Reid replied and walked towards Cal’s room.
“Well, we’ll have to wait for tomorrow at least we know that Cal is not in immediate danger and that his condition can be treated,” Lily said, “Now Luke, we will take you to the condo and then check into our hotel. I will call Josh and Emma and tell them what’s going on. We’ll talk to you later after you’ve cleaned up and had a rest,” giving Luke a quick hug and kiss.
“Okay mom,” Luke sighed, “As long as Cal’s alright and in good hands then I can rest and catch-up with you and dad later,” Luke agreed, he was feeling tired and hot, he had actually not taken his meds for the past few days. When he had left for Dallas he accidentally packed and empty bottle of pills and had not had enough time to fill the perscription. “First thing tomorrow,” he thought as they headed to Cal’s condo.
“See you later baby,” Lily said giving Luke another hug and kiss, “Are you sure you’re alright?” she questioned, “You feel warm and look a little flushed.”
“I’m just exhausted mom, I’ll call you in a few hours, bye dad,” he waved to Holden.
“Get some rest son, and we’ll see you later, okay,” Holden replied.
Luke dropped the key to the door twice and almost fell over from a wave of dizziness. He finally made it through the door but forgot to lock it. He toed off his shoes and made his way to his bedroom, he should have stopped for some water and something to eat but he was just too tired. He managed to get his suit jacket, shirt and pants off which he left scattered on the floor. Finally he collapsed on the bed in his boxers and socks and fell into a restless sleep.
Reid made it back to his apartment around 2 pm and let out a loud groan as he lay down on his large leather sofa, so good he thought. He had called Casey earlier arranging for him to pick him up around 6 pm and take him back to the museum to get his car since he had left it here the night before. Then he could come back to his apartment and look over treatment options he and Anna had discussed.
Casey was knocking on his door at 6 pm when he got a call from Lily, she was at the hospital trying to get a hold of Luke but he wan’t answering. She was worried since he did not look very well when they dropped him off, she called Casey to check in on him to make sure he was okay.
“Yeah, sure Lily, Reid and I will swing by on our way to get Reid’s car,” Casey said.
“Dr. Oliver and you are friends?” Lily asked surprise in her voice.
“Yeah, don’t you remember Reid was the best man at Ali and I’s wedding,” Casey told her.
“That was a crazy time and with Luke, Case, I’m sorry I forget how close you two became when he was in Oakdale,” Lily sighed.
Reid was standing at the door looking at Case, “Are you coming in?” he asked.
“Oh, sorry Reid, Lily, I have to go we’ll check on Luke for you and then I’ll call you back,” Casey said into the phone.
Reid groaned, “I don’t want to see that spoiled brat again today."
“Why not? Apparently you can’t keep your hands off him,” smirked Casey.
Reid rolled his eyes and gestured Casey to come in, “What did Mr. Snyder tell you?” Reid asked.
“Hey, I don’t know, maybe the fact that you were making-out with him ten minutes after you met him. What the fuck Reid, I thought you hated him?” Casey replied.
“As I told Luke, I don’t have to like him, to want him, he’s a hot gay man so sue me for wanting some action, he seemed to give it out freely,” Reid told Casey walking to his bedroom to throw on a shirt and a pair of jeans.
“Luke is not like that Reid, he is just friendly and definitely naive he does not understand his affect on other men. Noah made him feel like a piece of shit and the he was not wanted or worth anyone’s time or affection. Luke believed him and does not realize that people do like him and then men think he’s hot and want him,” Casey tried explaining to Reid.
As they walked to Casey’s car Reid said, “Noah did really mess him up, didn’t he?”
“Oh Reid, you don’t know the half of it dude, Luke was such a mess after Noah the douche bag cheated on him,” Casey said.
Reid looked at him quickly and said, “Noah cheated on Luke? Noah always made it sound like Luke was always the one who strayed and hooked up with other guys.”
“No, you’ve got it all wrong Reid, Luke loved Noah, he would do anything for him, even black mail a world famous neuro-surgeon to help his boyfriend since he thought the accident was his fault. When Luke loves someone he’s in it totally, he wants the ‘whole enchilada you could say’. Noah’s betrayal was too much and broke Luke and he fell off the edge,” Casey explained to Reid as they drove to Cal’s condo.
“Luke doesn’t realize how much I know but in a few of his drunken rants the whole sordid story of finding Noah fucking Mason in there bedroom came out. Luke was shattered and almost killed himself drinking”, Casey continued.
“You can‘t kill yourself drinking unless done it for decades, then you end up with liver or kidney failure,” Reid told Casey.
“Not if you have only one good kidney to start, since you started drinking at 15 and you get so sick you can lose one and then need a transplant,” was Casey’s quick reply.
Reid sucked in his breath “What the fuck was he thinking, when he started drinking like that again.”
“He wasn’t, he decided to give up on life since nobody wanted him and he was a failure. Luke carries a lot of emotional baggage, do don’t mess with him, you’re one of my best friends Reid, but I’ve known Luke since we were kids and I’m not going to see him go through all that bullshit again,” Casey said vehemently, “Luke comes first, okay dude.”
“I get it Case, I do,” Reid said rubbing a hand across his face and wondering how he had gotten himself into this mess, then he remembers the beautiful, soulful brown eyes and mouth meant for kissing...Reid sighed heavily as they pulled up to the condo.
Casey started knocking on the door but was not getting an answer, Reid came up beside him.
“I’m going to see if it’s open,” Casey told Reid and tried the door, it wasn’t locked.
“Luke, hey dude where are you,” Casey called as he walked into the kitchen, “Luke, hey man, Luke!” he yelled louder, there was no anwer.
Casey ran down the hallway opening doors, finally at the end of the hall he came to a room with the door open.
“Reid, come quick, something’s wrong with Luke,” he cried out frantically from down the hall.
Reid came running into the room, the windows were wide open an a warm breeze blew across a very still figure on the bed.