Amnesia and Realizations. And Maple-Glazed Turkey. Chapter 3.
Title: Amnesia and Realizations. And Maple-Glazed Turkey. Chapter 4
Author: nancygrew
Disclaimer: characters belong to ATWt
Rating: G
Notes: Takes place late November 2015. You do not have to read my other stories in order to understand this one. Originally written for Noah-Who but I decided to bring it over here too so that I can play with tags [and possibly correct typos at some distant point in the future].
Summary: Noah wakes up in Oakdale Memorial Hospital
CHAPTER THREE: TUESDAY NIGHT AT THE SNOLIVER ESTATE
A young red-haired woman dressed in black trousers and a white button down shirt greeted Luke and Noah.
"Noah, this is our household manager, Ms. Crichton," introduced Luke. "Ms. Crichton, this is Noah. He’s going to be staying with me and Reid for a few days."
"Dr. Oliver called me earlier to advise me of your houseguest. I’ve prepared both guestrooms so that he can decide which he would prefer to stay in."
"You have a butler?" an appalled Noah asked Luke.
"Yep," replied an unembarrassed Luke. "She’s completely magical and we’re really lucky to have her. Not magical in a supernatural Mary Poppins way, but magical in a hyper-competent Jeeves 2: Electric Boogaloo way. Ms. Crichton, I’m going to run upstairs to change clothing. Can you get Noah something to drink?"
"Of course, Mr. Snyder," replied Ms. Crichton. "Mr. Mayer, Dr. Oliver already let me know that alcohol wouldn’t be appropriate for you due to the medication, but I can get you juice, iced tea, coffee--"
"Coffee’s fine," said Noah hurriedly. He felt uncomfortable about being alone with a servant. He wasn’t sure how to act or what to say. He hadn’t spent a lot of time interacting with Lucinda’s staff at the Walsh Estate or with Lily and Holdens’ housekeeper or nanny. How much eye contact did it take to go from friendly fellow member of the proletariat to creepy?
"It must be nice to be rich and to be able to afford people doing everything for you," Noah said to Ms. Crichton in an effort to commiserate with her when she handed him a cup of coffee.
Ms. Crichton picked a piece of invisible lint from her sleeve. "Mr. Snyder and Dr. Oliver have high-pressure, time-consuming careers. They also spend a great deal of time raising funding for the hospital and the foundation. If having someone take care of the mundane domestic chores enables them to spend what little free time they have together, then I fail to see how that is anything other than positive."
"It’s just that it seems like it would be really humiliating to be a servant and to have rich people expect you to wait on them hand and foot," Noah explained.
Ms. Crichton permitted herself a small smile. "I’m a highly trained professional who gets extremely well-paid. Neither Mr. Snyder nor Dr. Oliver have ever treated me with less respect than I so richly deserve. In fact, when I insisted that it would be unprofessional of me to call them by their first names, they insisted on calling me Ms. Crichton even though most employers wouldn’t have felt the need to reciprocate the formal address."
Luke returned from upstairs. He had changed into a pair of faded jeans and a dark blue, long-sleeved T-shirt.
Ms. Crichton informed Luke that dinner was ready. Luke and Noah sat at the dining table and she served them a meal of salmon, jasmine rice, grilled vegetables and carrot juice. Luke thanked Ms. Crichton for the excellent meal.
"Noah and I can take care of the dishes," Luke advised Ms. Crichton. "You probably have some last minute arrangements to make for your holiday paraskiing trip with your girlfriend. You can head out."
"Thank you," replied Ms. Crichton. "I’ll be in early tomorrow so that I can make some of the arrangements for your Autumnal Harvest Feast before I leave for vacation. Is there anything special you’d like for breakfast?"
Luke grinned. "Surprise us."
Ms. Crichton informed Luke and Noah that there was strawberry-rhubarb compote in the refrigerator for dessert. She then left.
"This is pretty good food," Noah said in an attempt at small talk with his ex-boyfriend.
"Ms. Crichton is a great cook," exclaimed Luke. "It’s really important to Reid that we eat healthy and exercise regularly. So we’re really appreciative of the fact that Ms. Crichton can make healthy food taste great."
"It’s a shame that you had to change your lifestyle just because the doctor is so much older than us," Noah sympathized. "I remember how much you liked junk food."
"We’ve actually made a point to start living healthier because of my health issues," answered Luke. "Not that either one of us was living unhealthily before. We were both fit and in good health but it doesn’t hurt to turn up the healthy living to eleven. Of course when I’m out of town on business, Reid hits the barbecue and the pizza pretty hard. And Grandmother enables his not-so-secret barbecue addiction."
"What health issues?" asked Noah.
"Well, the anti-rejection meds I’m on can wreak havoc on my immune system," said Luke. "Reid has always been a little over-protective of my health, especially when I don’t get enough down time. However, I got pretty sick about six months ago because I ran myself ragged and he shifted into uber-worry mode. Hence, the healthy eating thing."
"You never really seemed to worry about your health before," said Noah. "The only time we ever discussed your kidney transplant was when you were drinking."
"I tend to concentrate on how some kidney transplants have lasted forty years and that new anti-rejection protocols are being developed all the time. Being a doctor, it’s not as easy for Reid. He concentrates on the fact that the average kidney transplant only lasts ten to fifteen years and that there are serious side-effects to the anti rejection meds. So he worries while pretending that he’s merely annoyed at the inconvenience of my inevitable demise."
"I knew that you could kill yourself by drinking but I don’t think I ever thought about your transplant as being some kind of chronic condition that was a big deal," said Noah. "Why didn’t you tell me?"
Luke shrugged. "I never tried to mislead you about my medical condition. I always just assumed that you understood what living with a kidney transplant entailed."
"Does . . . your husband work late every night?" Noah asked in order to divert attention from the fact that he had never fussed over Luke’s health except when Luke was drinking and basically behaving like a jerk. It wasn’t Noah’s fault that Luke had never spelled out the complications of living with a transplant for Noah.
"Tuesdays and Thursdays are our work late nights," answered Luke. "Usually I wouldn’t be home on a Tuesday night either but I’ve been trying to get some things done prior to the Autumnal Harvest Feast instead of doing everything on Thursday."
"So your husband has abandoned you to do all of the work for the holiday?" asked Noah. "That’s doesn’t seem very supportive of him."
"Reid’s first choice would be to have the whole thing catered," said Luke. "Therefore, I wouldn’t be able to complain if he refused to participate in any of the preparations that I insist on making. However, he has been helping me with the details because that’s just how my man rolls. This past Saturday, we baked and froze a couple of batches of Mexican tea cakes and chocolate chip and walnut cookies. Sunday we made and froze a couple of batches of crab puffs and spinach balls for hors d’oeuvres. On Monday, we made side dishes of apple & pear sauce and cranberries with ginger & citrus. Tonight, I’m going to bake a bunch of cornbread for the cornbread and chorizo stuffing and I’m going to start brining the turkeys. I don’t really need Reid holding my hand to do any of that."
Noah wasn’t sure if he should explain to Luke that his marriage still didn’t seem equitable. Maybe Luke didn’t mind that Dr. Buttface put his career in front of Luke. Luke had never been a go-getter. Maybe he was just fine with being the "wife" of the relationship.
"Emma doesn’t make cornbread and chorizo stuffing," Noah informed Luke. "She makes chestnut stuffing."
"What can I say? I’m a stuffing rebel," replied Luke proudly.
Noah was very disappointed in Luke not wanting to make the correct Thanksgiving stuffing. It was pretty thoughtless of Luke to force everyone to eat the wrong stuffing on Thanksgiving.
"If you’re done eating, I can show you to the guest rooms and you can choose which one you want to stay in," suggested Luke. Noah nodded.
Luke took Noah up the glass and steel stairway to the second floor of the house. "Natalie likes to refer to our house as The Snoliver Estate," said Luke. "A couple of years ago, she had some stationary made for us for Christmas with a letterhead that read, ‘The Snoliver Estate.’ Last year, she made postcards for us for Christmas. The face of the postcards said, ‘Greetings from the Snoliver Estate’ and they featured a picture of the house that she had taken.’"
"That’s nice," said Noah. He wasn’t paying close attention to what Luke was saying because he was busy trying to decide if he should let Luke know that his house was ostentatious. Luke showed Noah both guestrooms. Luke referred to one as The Girl Detective Room and to one as The Dinosaur Room. Noah wasn’t amused at the thought that Luke might think that he’d want to stay in a girl’s room. He elected to stay in The Dinosaur Room. While unpacking his clothing, Noah noticed that a couple of the drawers already had clothing in them.
"The top drawer is Ethan’s. The second drawer is Jacob’s," Luke explained to Noah. "It’s easier if the kids just keep a couple of sets of clothes here for whenever one of them decide to spend the night. The third drawer should be empty. Hold on, I’ll be right back," Luke left the room. Noah continued unpacking.
"Here we go," said Luke when he returned moments later. "I’ve brought you one of my electronic readers. This one is loaded up with all kinds of fiction. It has everything from Grandma Emma’s romance novels that she wrote under the pseudonym of Amber D’Amour to Uncle Seth’s novels to the works of Jane Austen and Jules Verne. If you get bored during your stay, you’ll have something to read to keep you busy." Luke handed Noah the electronic reader.
Noah placed the electronic book upon the bedside table. Noah was a little annoyed. Luke was the reader, not him. Luke cared so little about Noah that he couldn’t even seem to remember that.
"Since you’re unpacked, come with me and I’ll show you the media room in the basement," said Luke. "Reid and I don’t spend a lot of time watching movies but we have a pretty nice selection. While you’re staying with us here, I hope that you feel comfortable enough to make yourself at home."
Luke led Noah downstairs to the basement. In the basement, there was a storage room, a home gym and a large media room. A huge television hung on one wall. Colorful art hung on the other walls. A cabinet full of movies sat beneath the television screen. Large overstuffed couches sat facing the screen.
"I have to go and start on the cornbread and brine," Luke advised Noah. "You can hang out down here watching movies if you’d like. Or I can call Maddie and see if she’s free to come hang out with you tonight. I don’t really know any of your other friends."
"Actually, I’m kind of tired," said Noah. "I think I’ll go upstairs and lay down. I’ll see you in the morning. Good night."
"Good night."
Noah went upstairs to the Dinosaur Room. He threw on a pair of sweatpants and a T-shirt and crawled into bed. He awoke several hours later. Fortunately, his headache seemed to have cleared up. No more Gloria Gaynor. He headed downstairs to see if Luke was still awake. Noah was coming down the stairs when he saw them in the kitchen area. Dr. Buttface was cradling Luke’s face and exchanging gentle kisses with him. Luke’s hands were resting on Dr. Buttface’s hips. Luke pulled back and grinned at Dr. Buttface. Sometimes, Noah had hated the fact that Luke always wore his emotions on his sleeve. It was always so daunting that Luke’s emotions had always been bright neon flashing lights compared to the dull grays of other peoples’ emotions. They were impossible to miss and Noah had often felt bludgeoned by them. Until now when he saw the joy and happiness that Luke’s face exuded as he looked at Dr. Buttface. Now, Noah just hated the fact that someone else was the target of all of that LOVE pouring off of Luke. It wasn’t fair. Noah turned around and headed back upstairs to go back to sleep.
Author: nancygrew
Disclaimer: characters belong to ATWt
Rating: G
Notes: Takes place late November 2015. You do not have to read my other stories in order to understand this one. Originally written for Noah-Who but I decided to bring it over here too so that I can play with tags [and possibly correct typos at some distant point in the future].
Summary: Noah wakes up in Oakdale Memorial Hospital
CHAPTER THREE: TUESDAY NIGHT AT THE SNOLIVER ESTATE
A young red-haired woman dressed in black trousers and a white button down shirt greeted Luke and Noah.
"Noah, this is our household manager, Ms. Crichton," introduced Luke. "Ms. Crichton, this is Noah. He’s going to be staying with me and Reid for a few days."
"Dr. Oliver called me earlier to advise me of your houseguest. I’ve prepared both guestrooms so that he can decide which he would prefer to stay in."
"You have a butler?" an appalled Noah asked Luke.
"Yep," replied an unembarrassed Luke. "She’s completely magical and we’re really lucky to have her. Not magical in a supernatural Mary Poppins way, but magical in a hyper-competent Jeeves 2: Electric Boogaloo way. Ms. Crichton, I’m going to run upstairs to change clothing. Can you get Noah something to drink?"
"Of course, Mr. Snyder," replied Ms. Crichton. "Mr. Mayer, Dr. Oliver already let me know that alcohol wouldn’t be appropriate for you due to the medication, but I can get you juice, iced tea, coffee--"
"Coffee’s fine," said Noah hurriedly. He felt uncomfortable about being alone with a servant. He wasn’t sure how to act or what to say. He hadn’t spent a lot of time interacting with Lucinda’s staff at the Walsh Estate or with Lily and Holdens’ housekeeper or nanny. How much eye contact did it take to go from friendly fellow member of the proletariat to creepy?
"It must be nice to be rich and to be able to afford people doing everything for you," Noah said to Ms. Crichton in an effort to commiserate with her when she handed him a cup of coffee.
Ms. Crichton picked a piece of invisible lint from her sleeve. "Mr. Snyder and Dr. Oliver have high-pressure, time-consuming careers. They also spend a great deal of time raising funding for the hospital and the foundation. If having someone take care of the mundane domestic chores enables them to spend what little free time they have together, then I fail to see how that is anything other than positive."
"It’s just that it seems like it would be really humiliating to be a servant and to have rich people expect you to wait on them hand and foot," Noah explained.
Ms. Crichton permitted herself a small smile. "I’m a highly trained professional who gets extremely well-paid. Neither Mr. Snyder nor Dr. Oliver have ever treated me with less respect than I so richly deserve. In fact, when I insisted that it would be unprofessional of me to call them by their first names, they insisted on calling me Ms. Crichton even though most employers wouldn’t have felt the need to reciprocate the formal address."
Luke returned from upstairs. He had changed into a pair of faded jeans and a dark blue, long-sleeved T-shirt.
Ms. Crichton informed Luke that dinner was ready. Luke and Noah sat at the dining table and she served them a meal of salmon, jasmine rice, grilled vegetables and carrot juice. Luke thanked Ms. Crichton for the excellent meal.
"Noah and I can take care of the dishes," Luke advised Ms. Crichton. "You probably have some last minute arrangements to make for your holiday paraskiing trip with your girlfriend. You can head out."
"Thank you," replied Ms. Crichton. "I’ll be in early tomorrow so that I can make some of the arrangements for your Autumnal Harvest Feast before I leave for vacation. Is there anything special you’d like for breakfast?"
Luke grinned. "Surprise us."
Ms. Crichton informed Luke and Noah that there was strawberry-rhubarb compote in the refrigerator for dessert. She then left.
"This is pretty good food," Noah said in an attempt at small talk with his ex-boyfriend.
"Ms. Crichton is a great cook," exclaimed Luke. "It’s really important to Reid that we eat healthy and exercise regularly. So we’re really appreciative of the fact that Ms. Crichton can make healthy food taste great."
"It’s a shame that you had to change your lifestyle just because the doctor is so much older than us," Noah sympathized. "I remember how much you liked junk food."
"We’ve actually made a point to start living healthier because of my health issues," answered Luke. "Not that either one of us was living unhealthily before. We were both fit and in good health but it doesn’t hurt to turn up the healthy living to eleven. Of course when I’m out of town on business, Reid hits the barbecue and the pizza pretty hard. And Grandmother enables his not-so-secret barbecue addiction."
"What health issues?" asked Noah.
"Well, the anti-rejection meds I’m on can wreak havoc on my immune system," said Luke. "Reid has always been a little over-protective of my health, especially when I don’t get enough down time. However, I got pretty sick about six months ago because I ran myself ragged and he shifted into uber-worry mode. Hence, the healthy eating thing."
"You never really seemed to worry about your health before," said Noah. "The only time we ever discussed your kidney transplant was when you were drinking."
"I tend to concentrate on how some kidney transplants have lasted forty years and that new anti-rejection protocols are being developed all the time. Being a doctor, it’s not as easy for Reid. He concentrates on the fact that the average kidney transplant only lasts ten to fifteen years and that there are serious side-effects to the anti rejection meds. So he worries while pretending that he’s merely annoyed at the inconvenience of my inevitable demise."
"I knew that you could kill yourself by drinking but I don’t think I ever thought about your transplant as being some kind of chronic condition that was a big deal," said Noah. "Why didn’t you tell me?"
Luke shrugged. "I never tried to mislead you about my medical condition. I always just assumed that you understood what living with a kidney transplant entailed."
"Does . . . your husband work late every night?" Noah asked in order to divert attention from the fact that he had never fussed over Luke’s health except when Luke was drinking and basically behaving like a jerk. It wasn’t Noah’s fault that Luke had never spelled out the complications of living with a transplant for Noah.
"Tuesdays and Thursdays are our work late nights," answered Luke. "Usually I wouldn’t be home on a Tuesday night either but I’ve been trying to get some things done prior to the Autumnal Harvest Feast instead of doing everything on Thursday."
"So your husband has abandoned you to do all of the work for the holiday?" asked Noah. "That’s doesn’t seem very supportive of him."
"Reid’s first choice would be to have the whole thing catered," said Luke. "Therefore, I wouldn’t be able to complain if he refused to participate in any of the preparations that I insist on making. However, he has been helping me with the details because that’s just how my man rolls. This past Saturday, we baked and froze a couple of batches of Mexican tea cakes and chocolate chip and walnut cookies. Sunday we made and froze a couple of batches of crab puffs and spinach balls for hors d’oeuvres. On Monday, we made side dishes of apple & pear sauce and cranberries with ginger & citrus. Tonight, I’m going to bake a bunch of cornbread for the cornbread and chorizo stuffing and I’m going to start brining the turkeys. I don’t really need Reid holding my hand to do any of that."
Noah wasn’t sure if he should explain to Luke that his marriage still didn’t seem equitable. Maybe Luke didn’t mind that Dr. Buttface put his career in front of Luke. Luke had never been a go-getter. Maybe he was just fine with being the "wife" of the relationship.
"Emma doesn’t make cornbread and chorizo stuffing," Noah informed Luke. "She makes chestnut stuffing."
"What can I say? I’m a stuffing rebel," replied Luke proudly.
Noah was very disappointed in Luke not wanting to make the correct Thanksgiving stuffing. It was pretty thoughtless of Luke to force everyone to eat the wrong stuffing on Thanksgiving.
"If you’re done eating, I can show you to the guest rooms and you can choose which one you want to stay in," suggested Luke. Noah nodded.
Luke took Noah up the glass and steel stairway to the second floor of the house. "Natalie likes to refer to our house as The Snoliver Estate," said Luke. "A couple of years ago, she had some stationary made for us for Christmas with a letterhead that read, ‘The Snoliver Estate.’ Last year, she made postcards for us for Christmas. The face of the postcards said, ‘Greetings from the Snoliver Estate’ and they featured a picture of the house that she had taken.’"
"That’s nice," said Noah. He wasn’t paying close attention to what Luke was saying because he was busy trying to decide if he should let Luke know that his house was ostentatious. Luke showed Noah both guestrooms. Luke referred to one as The Girl Detective Room and to one as The Dinosaur Room. Noah wasn’t amused at the thought that Luke might think that he’d want to stay in a girl’s room. He elected to stay in The Dinosaur Room. While unpacking his clothing, Noah noticed that a couple of the drawers already had clothing in them.
"The top drawer is Ethan’s. The second drawer is Jacob’s," Luke explained to Noah. "It’s easier if the kids just keep a couple of sets of clothes here for whenever one of them decide to spend the night. The third drawer should be empty. Hold on, I’ll be right back," Luke left the room. Noah continued unpacking.
"Here we go," said Luke when he returned moments later. "I’ve brought you one of my electronic readers. This one is loaded up with all kinds of fiction. It has everything from Grandma Emma’s romance novels that she wrote under the pseudonym of Amber D’Amour to Uncle Seth’s novels to the works of Jane Austen and Jules Verne. If you get bored during your stay, you’ll have something to read to keep you busy." Luke handed Noah the electronic reader.
Noah placed the electronic book upon the bedside table. Noah was a little annoyed. Luke was the reader, not him. Luke cared so little about Noah that he couldn’t even seem to remember that.
"Since you’re unpacked, come with me and I’ll show you the media room in the basement," said Luke. "Reid and I don’t spend a lot of time watching movies but we have a pretty nice selection. While you’re staying with us here, I hope that you feel comfortable enough to make yourself at home."
Luke led Noah downstairs to the basement. In the basement, there was a storage room, a home gym and a large media room. A huge television hung on one wall. Colorful art hung on the other walls. A cabinet full of movies sat beneath the television screen. Large overstuffed couches sat facing the screen.
"I have to go and start on the cornbread and brine," Luke advised Noah. "You can hang out down here watching movies if you’d like. Or I can call Maddie and see if she’s free to come hang out with you tonight. I don’t really know any of your other friends."
"Actually, I’m kind of tired," said Noah. "I think I’ll go upstairs and lay down. I’ll see you in the morning. Good night."
"Good night."
Noah went upstairs to the Dinosaur Room. He threw on a pair of sweatpants and a T-shirt and crawled into bed. He awoke several hours later. Fortunately, his headache seemed to have cleared up. No more Gloria Gaynor. He headed downstairs to see if Luke was still awake. Noah was coming down the stairs when he saw them in the kitchen area. Dr. Buttface was cradling Luke’s face and exchanging gentle kisses with him. Luke’s hands were resting on Dr. Buttface’s hips. Luke pulled back and grinned at Dr. Buttface. Sometimes, Noah had hated the fact that Luke always wore his emotions on his sleeve. It was always so daunting that Luke’s emotions had always been bright neon flashing lights compared to the dull grays of other peoples’ emotions. They were impossible to miss and Noah had often felt bludgeoned by them. Until now when he saw the joy and happiness that Luke’s face exuded as he looked at Dr. Buttface. Now, Noah just hated the fact that someone else was the target of all of that LOVE pouring off of Luke. It wasn’t fair. Noah turned around and headed back upstairs to go back to sleep.