Remember When (Chapter 20-21)
Title: Remember When
Author: sunalsosets
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 1,912
Pairings: Luke/Noah, Luke/Reid, Noah/OMC
Summary: Aftermath of Luke's accident
Previous Chapters: Chapter 18-19
Part IIIChapter 20
Adam and the other lead surgeons worked as hard and as tirelessly as possible to save Luke’s life and in the end, they had been as successful as possible. Most of Luke’s external injuries had been fairly superficial but there had been some significant trauma to his brain, enough to put him in a coma.
However, there were clear signs of brain activity which Adam and the lead surgeon on Luke’s case explained to Lily and Holden was a very, very good sign. It meant that Luke could come out of the coma at any time.
Despite the doctors’ optimism, they had also been trained to be as honest as possible to families and so made certain to also let Lily and Holden know that the condition could be as brief as a few days or practically a lifetime. There was really no way to know for sure and it was mostly up to Luke at this point.
Noah had rushed to Oakdale with Adam filling him in on every update as quickly as he could. They had just gotten off the phone, Noah calling Adam, who’d been on call the entire night, moments after waking up in his bed. Adam had quickly informed him that there had been no change in Luke’s condition.
“Thanks,” Noah groggily whispered; his body and mind completely disoriented from the worry, jet lag and lack of sleep he’d been going through in the last few days.
“You’re welcome,” Adam said. “I have to get back to my other rounds.”
Before Noah had a chance to reply, he added, concern in his voice, “and Noah, will you please try to eat something today and not just a banana but an actual breakfast?”
“I’ll try,” Noah said honestly. And before Adam hung up, he finally said something else that had been on his mind since he caught an immediate flight to Oakdale after hearing about Luke’s accident.
“Umm, Adam…”
“Yeah,” Adam answered.
“I want you to know that I really appreciate how amazing you’re being about all of this. You know, with me rushing to be here and spending hours at the hospital because I know it must be weird for you with Luke being my ex-boyfriend but…”
“Noah,” Adam suddenly interrupted him.
“Yeah,” Noah said a little nervously.
“You were with this person for three years. He was your first love. I wouldn’t expect anything less from you. If anything, it just makes me know that you’re exactly the man I’ve always believed you to be. Plus, it makes me happy because I’d like to think that if for whatever reason you and I don’t work out, you’d still care whether I lived or died.”
Noah smiled tenderly into the phone before whispering, “I love you.”
“I love you too,” Adam returned, “now I have to go and make sure you eat some breakfast.”
Chapter 21
Noah still approached Luke’s hospital room and his family nervously. Despite both Lily and Holden’s lectures, not to mention Adam’s as well, the fact was he still felt partly responsible for Luke’s accident which they all now knew was caused by his drinking.
The second they were informed that Luke’s blood alcohol level was extremely high; both Lily and Holden knew something really terrible must have happened to cause him to fall off the wagon.
They asked Noah if he had any idea what it could have been and he hesitated, not sure he wanted them to know everything about his and Luke’s last conversation. In the end, he only shared with them the truth about Reid’s leaving and how Luke had been lying to everyone about it.
At that point, he admitted that he felt partly responsible because he knew Luke was in a fragile state, that he was hurting and he should have tried harder to be there for him. Lily and Holden had both told him he was being ridiculous, that he and Luke were no longer together and more importantly Luke was an adult who was responsible for his own choices.
Still, a part of Noah was unable to let go of the guilt, finally confessing the entire reasoning for it to Adam. Adam had been hurt and more than a little angry that Noah never told him about his and Luke’s conversation, how Luke had basically admitted to still wanting to be with him but just like Lily and Holden, he’d assured Noah that none of this was his fault and Luke’s choices were his choices.
However, no matter how many times he heard it and no matter how much the reasonable side of his brain told him they were all right, Noah couldn’t deny the aching guilt in the pit of his stomach. Especially, every time he came to the hospital and saw Luke looking so broken and extremely fragile in a hospital bed. Or when, like right now, he saw the dark circles and signs of strain and worry on Lily’s face as he slowly walked up to her.
“Hi,” Noah said softly, “I brought you a cup of coffee.”
As he handed it to her, he added with a small smile, “All my years of working at Java made me an expert at memorizing people’s coffee orders.”
“Thank you,” Lily said, giving him a very tired smile before reaching gratefully for the large cup.
“You’re welcome,” Noah said, before gesturing his head towards Luke’s room. “Adam told me there’s been no change.”
“No, he’s pretty much the same,” Lily said, taking a long and deep sip of her coffee.
They sat in amicable silence for few moments until Lily turned slightly towards him. With a small sideways glance, she said, “I’m really glad you’re here Noah. A year ago, I never would have imagined that if something horrible like this happened to Luke, you’d be here instead of Reid. “
“Yeah, I know,” Noah said, softly.
He then cleared his throat a little nervously, unsure of how she would respond to what he was about to say.
“Has anyone tried to contact him…Reid I mean.”
“No, why would we?”
“Well, I know he’s not allowed to operate but he can still consult and no matter what’s happened or what I think of him, we all know he’s brilliant at what he does,” Noah said, hesitating a little before adding, “plus, despite everything, I do think he loves Luke in his own messed up way and I really do believe he would care if he knew Luke was in a coma and would definitely want to be here.”
“You’re far more generous about Reid than I am then,” Lily said softly, an obvious bite in her tone; “which frankly just makes you that much better of a person that he could ever be.”
Voice rising just a little in anger, Lily added, “All I know Noah is that after everything Luke did for him, everything he put into that relationship, the second things got difficult for Reid; he just left. I’m sorry, I don’t care how much you’re hurting; you don’t treat someone you’re supposed to be in love with that way. Frankly, I’ll be glad if I never see him again. Luke is far better off and when he wakes up from this, I’ll make sure he knows that. That he has his family and friends and he’ll be more than okay without Reid Oliver in his life.”
There was nothing Noah could say. After all, he got it. Lily was clearly thinking as a mother, wanting only to protect her son from anyone who could hurt him and Reid, in her eyes, had clearly done just that.
So instead, he reached for her hand, gently squeezing it.
“It’s okay; we don’t have to talk about Reid. You’re right, that’s not important. Let’s just focus on Luke.”
Lily took a small sip of her coffee, trying to fight back the few tears lingering and nodded slightly.
“Okay,” she said, returning Noah’s squeeze.
And as they both sat back, preparing for another long day of waiting, praying and hoping, she turned to face Noah and said softly, “so, tell me about Adam.”
The question surprised him. Noting the shock in his eyes, Lily smiled tenderly as she said, “Noah, I meant it when I said that you were like a son to me. That means that I care about your happiness too. As much as I wanted you and Luke to be together forever, I won’t deny that, I accept that things didn’t work out that way. And from the little I’ve seen of Adam since he’s been working on Luke’s case, he seems like a very special young man.”
“He is,” Noah said softly.
“Right,” Lily said, “so tell me about it.”
So Noah did.
***
Noah stayed until late afternoon before finally taking a break to pick up some lunch for himself, Lily and Adam who was still on duty at the hospital. He was just done swiping his card and was waiting for his receipt when his cell phone went off. He grabbed it instantly as the ringtone belonged to Adam.
“Hey,” Noah answered, a little breathlessly.
Not wasting time with small talk, Adam stated simply, a smile in his voice, “Luke’s awake.”
***Miles away in a hospital bed, Luke was quietly observing a group of doctors and nurses examining and re-examining him while his parents stood nervously at the door.
“You gave us quite a scare there, Luke,” the one doctor, the older one, said.
Luke said nothing, his eyes still trying to adjust to the bright light and his throat feeling too sore to say anything even if he wanted to.
“Okay,” the doctor said, “we’re going to run a few basic tests on you to make sure there isn’t any permanent brain damage.”
Once again, Luke said nothing and simply watched as the next few minutes were spent checking his reflexes.
“Great,” the doctor finally said. At that point, most of the staff, save the doctor and one younger one, left the room.
“Now I’m just going to ask you a few easy questions. Take your time; I know your throat might be a little sore.”
Luke slowly nodded his head.
“How many fingers am I holding up?”
“Three,” Luke slowly croaked out.
“Good. Now can you tell me your name?”
“Luke Snyder,” Luke said slowly, “Although my birth name is Luciano Grimaldi but I hate that name and no one ever calls me that.”
He heard Lily choke a small laugh through her happy tears.
For the next five minutes, he was asked questions about the room, his family and finally, the doctor seemed satisfied.
“Well everything looks great,” he started but stopped, as the younger doctor leaned in and whispered something to him. A small exchange passed between them, the tension in room increasing the longer it lasted.
Turning back to Luke with a pleasant smile back on his face, the doctor said, “One last question Luke, can you tell me what year it is?”
Luke swallowed heavily, still feeling the slight soreness of his throat, even though he’d been allowed a few sips of water during the questioning, before saying slowly, “2009.”
“Excuse me,” the doctor said, sounding slightly nervous.
“It’s 2009,” Luke repeated and then he turned to his parents to ask the question he’d been most curious about the second he opened his eyes, “mom, dad, where’s Noah?”
Author: sunalsosets
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 1,912
Pairings: Luke/Noah, Luke/Reid, Noah/OMC
Summary: Aftermath of Luke's accident
Previous Chapters: Chapter 18-19
Part IIIChapter 20
Adam and the other lead surgeons worked as hard and as tirelessly as possible to save Luke’s life and in the end, they had been as successful as possible. Most of Luke’s external injuries had been fairly superficial but there had been some significant trauma to his brain, enough to put him in a coma.
However, there were clear signs of brain activity which Adam and the lead surgeon on Luke’s case explained to Lily and Holden was a very, very good sign. It meant that Luke could come out of the coma at any time.
Despite the doctors’ optimism, they had also been trained to be as honest as possible to families and so made certain to also let Lily and Holden know that the condition could be as brief as a few days or practically a lifetime. There was really no way to know for sure and it was mostly up to Luke at this point.
Noah had rushed to Oakdale with Adam filling him in on every update as quickly as he could. They had just gotten off the phone, Noah calling Adam, who’d been on call the entire night, moments after waking up in his bed. Adam had quickly informed him that there had been no change in Luke’s condition.
“Thanks,” Noah groggily whispered; his body and mind completely disoriented from the worry, jet lag and lack of sleep he’d been going through in the last few days.
“You’re welcome,” Adam said. “I have to get back to my other rounds.”
Before Noah had a chance to reply, he added, concern in his voice, “and Noah, will you please try to eat something today and not just a banana but an actual breakfast?”
“I’ll try,” Noah said honestly. And before Adam hung up, he finally said something else that had been on his mind since he caught an immediate flight to Oakdale after hearing about Luke’s accident.
“Umm, Adam…”
“Yeah,” Adam answered.
“I want you to know that I really appreciate how amazing you’re being about all of this. You know, with me rushing to be here and spending hours at the hospital because I know it must be weird for you with Luke being my ex-boyfriend but…”
“Noah,” Adam suddenly interrupted him.
“Yeah,” Noah said a little nervously.
“You were with this person for three years. He was your first love. I wouldn’t expect anything less from you. If anything, it just makes me know that you’re exactly the man I’ve always believed you to be. Plus, it makes me happy because I’d like to think that if for whatever reason you and I don’t work out, you’d still care whether I lived or died.”
Noah smiled tenderly into the phone before whispering, “I love you.”
“I love you too,” Adam returned, “now I have to go and make sure you eat some breakfast.”
Chapter 21
Noah still approached Luke’s hospital room and his family nervously. Despite both Lily and Holden’s lectures, not to mention Adam’s as well, the fact was he still felt partly responsible for Luke’s accident which they all now knew was caused by his drinking.
The second they were informed that Luke’s blood alcohol level was extremely high; both Lily and Holden knew something really terrible must have happened to cause him to fall off the wagon.
They asked Noah if he had any idea what it could have been and he hesitated, not sure he wanted them to know everything about his and Luke’s last conversation. In the end, he only shared with them the truth about Reid’s leaving and how Luke had been lying to everyone about it.
At that point, he admitted that he felt partly responsible because he knew Luke was in a fragile state, that he was hurting and he should have tried harder to be there for him. Lily and Holden had both told him he was being ridiculous, that he and Luke were no longer together and more importantly Luke was an adult who was responsible for his own choices.
Still, a part of Noah was unable to let go of the guilt, finally confessing the entire reasoning for it to Adam. Adam had been hurt and more than a little angry that Noah never told him about his and Luke’s conversation, how Luke had basically admitted to still wanting to be with him but just like Lily and Holden, he’d assured Noah that none of this was his fault and Luke’s choices were his choices.
However, no matter how many times he heard it and no matter how much the reasonable side of his brain told him they were all right, Noah couldn’t deny the aching guilt in the pit of his stomach. Especially, every time he came to the hospital and saw Luke looking so broken and extremely fragile in a hospital bed. Or when, like right now, he saw the dark circles and signs of strain and worry on Lily’s face as he slowly walked up to her.
“Hi,” Noah said softly, “I brought you a cup of coffee.”
As he handed it to her, he added with a small smile, “All my years of working at Java made me an expert at memorizing people’s coffee orders.”
“Thank you,” Lily said, giving him a very tired smile before reaching gratefully for the large cup.
“You’re welcome,” Noah said, before gesturing his head towards Luke’s room. “Adam told me there’s been no change.”
“No, he’s pretty much the same,” Lily said, taking a long and deep sip of her coffee.
They sat in amicable silence for few moments until Lily turned slightly towards him. With a small sideways glance, she said, “I’m really glad you’re here Noah. A year ago, I never would have imagined that if something horrible like this happened to Luke, you’d be here instead of Reid. “
“Yeah, I know,” Noah said, softly.
He then cleared his throat a little nervously, unsure of how she would respond to what he was about to say.
“Has anyone tried to contact him…Reid I mean.”
“No, why would we?”
“Well, I know he’s not allowed to operate but he can still consult and no matter what’s happened or what I think of him, we all know he’s brilliant at what he does,” Noah said, hesitating a little before adding, “plus, despite everything, I do think he loves Luke in his own messed up way and I really do believe he would care if he knew Luke was in a coma and would definitely want to be here.”
“You’re far more generous about Reid than I am then,” Lily said softly, an obvious bite in her tone; “which frankly just makes you that much better of a person that he could ever be.”
Voice rising just a little in anger, Lily added, “All I know Noah is that after everything Luke did for him, everything he put into that relationship, the second things got difficult for Reid; he just left. I’m sorry, I don’t care how much you’re hurting; you don’t treat someone you’re supposed to be in love with that way. Frankly, I’ll be glad if I never see him again. Luke is far better off and when he wakes up from this, I’ll make sure he knows that. That he has his family and friends and he’ll be more than okay without Reid Oliver in his life.”
There was nothing Noah could say. After all, he got it. Lily was clearly thinking as a mother, wanting only to protect her son from anyone who could hurt him and Reid, in her eyes, had clearly done just that.
So instead, he reached for her hand, gently squeezing it.
“It’s okay; we don’t have to talk about Reid. You’re right, that’s not important. Let’s just focus on Luke.”
Lily took a small sip of her coffee, trying to fight back the few tears lingering and nodded slightly.
“Okay,” she said, returning Noah’s squeeze.
And as they both sat back, preparing for another long day of waiting, praying and hoping, she turned to face Noah and said softly, “so, tell me about Adam.”
The question surprised him. Noting the shock in his eyes, Lily smiled tenderly as she said, “Noah, I meant it when I said that you were like a son to me. That means that I care about your happiness too. As much as I wanted you and Luke to be together forever, I won’t deny that, I accept that things didn’t work out that way. And from the little I’ve seen of Adam since he’s been working on Luke’s case, he seems like a very special young man.”
“He is,” Noah said softly.
“Right,” Lily said, “so tell me about it.”
So Noah did.
***
Noah stayed until late afternoon before finally taking a break to pick up some lunch for himself, Lily and Adam who was still on duty at the hospital. He was just done swiping his card and was waiting for his receipt when his cell phone went off. He grabbed it instantly as the ringtone belonged to Adam.
“Hey,” Noah answered, a little breathlessly.
Not wasting time with small talk, Adam stated simply, a smile in his voice, “Luke’s awake.”
***Miles away in a hospital bed, Luke was quietly observing a group of doctors and nurses examining and re-examining him while his parents stood nervously at the door.
“You gave us quite a scare there, Luke,” the one doctor, the older one, said.
Luke said nothing, his eyes still trying to adjust to the bright light and his throat feeling too sore to say anything even if he wanted to.
“Okay,” the doctor said, “we’re going to run a few basic tests on you to make sure there isn’t any permanent brain damage.”
Once again, Luke said nothing and simply watched as the next few minutes were spent checking his reflexes.
“Great,” the doctor finally said. At that point, most of the staff, save the doctor and one younger one, left the room.
“Now I’m just going to ask you a few easy questions. Take your time; I know your throat might be a little sore.”
Luke slowly nodded his head.
“How many fingers am I holding up?”
“Three,” Luke slowly croaked out.
“Good. Now can you tell me your name?”
“Luke Snyder,” Luke said slowly, “Although my birth name is Luciano Grimaldi but I hate that name and no one ever calls me that.”
He heard Lily choke a small laugh through her happy tears.
For the next five minutes, he was asked questions about the room, his family and finally, the doctor seemed satisfied.
“Well everything looks great,” he started but stopped, as the younger doctor leaned in and whispered something to him. A small exchange passed between them, the tension in room increasing the longer it lasted.
Turning back to Luke with a pleasant smile back on his face, the doctor said, “One last question Luke, can you tell me what year it is?”
Luke swallowed heavily, still feeling the slight soreness of his throat, even though he’d been allowed a few sips of water during the questioning, before saying slowly, “2009.”
“Excuse me,” the doctor said, sounding slightly nervous.
“It’s 2009,” Luke repeated and then he turned to his parents to ask the question he’d been most curious about the second he opened his eyes, “mom, dad, where’s Noah?”