Now and Again (15/??)
Title: Now and Again
Author: alissablue
Rating: PG-13/R, will be NC-17 eventually.
Characters/Pairings: Luke/Reid, Noah, other Oakdale characters and an OC here or there.
Category: Fix it-fic, AU
Summary: “If men define situations as real, they are real in their consequences.”- W.I. Thomas
Warnings: Angsty Angst, some mindfuckery
Disclaimer: Do not own. Wish I did, though. I could make them do all sorts of kinky stuff.
A/N: Keywords for this fic are ‘patience’ and ‘payoff’. I have been working on this since... September(?) and I've finally written enough chapters to start posting. Title credit goes to my epically awesome beta slayerkitty, who deserves a round of applause for sitting through my long rants, freak outs, smut-related giggles and posting hesitation.
A/N: Me + comments is like... Reid + Sandwiches<3.
Prologue / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 / 10 / 11 / 12 / 13 / 14 /
Chapter 15: Does the name Chris Hughes ring a bell?
“No, that’s- that’s fine, thank you… Okay- I’ll check that facility, too. Yes, but- thank you for trying.”
Luke hung up the phone and crossed the Mayo Clinic off his list. The morning after he’d lain in bed and decided to start searching for Reid, he had had his secretary at Grimaldi Shipping compile a list of major neurological facilities in the country and Patricia had e-mailed him back the very next day, giving him a list of well known hospitals. So far, he had called about thirty facilities across the country, but no such luck. None of the facilities had any paperwork on a Dr. Reid Oliver and Luke was growing more frustrated and impatient with every phone call.
It wasn’t supposed to be like this, this hard. Reid was supposedly this brilliant, high profile neurosurgeon and it should have been the easiest thing in the world to find him. But he’d left nothing behind, no indication as to where he’d gone, not a single trail.
Where the hell was he?
Three hours later, he was still calling facilities, refusing to give up on this, on Reid. The ink of his pen was running out, his fingers were stained and blue and sore and his mouth was dry from all the polite conversations.
When he crossed the 52nd facility off his list, it hit him. And his pen dropped to the floor, his breath hitched in his throat and he nearly keeled over as it did.
Why not Oakdale?
********
Reid was looking over a patient’s chart, trying to decide on the best way to go about Mr. Avery’s treatment, a middle aged man who had been in a car accident and was now at risk of becoming paralyzed. Mr. Avery had been his first patient in Oakdale and, frankly, the only patient so far who actually had had something worth complaining about.
Because, as far as whiny hypochondriacs went, Parkland Memorial had nothing on Oakdale. Oakdale was the most dramatic, unreal town he’d ever been to, filled with freak accidents, oversensitive nurses -She leaks… the tears!- and incompetent doctors, one of which was walking toward him at that exact moment.
Reid almost furiously scribbled down a few instructions for the watery eyed nurse whose name he couldn’t seem - or care- to remember, frustrated at her persistent screw ups, when he noticed a figure approaching him. The figure seemed to hesitate, appeared to contemplate whether or not to approach Reid or to just walk by and ignore him, but the figure eventually decided on the former and cleared his throat to get Reid’s attention.
“You’re new here?”
Reid kept writing.
“You know, Oliver, I’m not just going to go away if you keep ignoring me.”
Reid let go of his ‘Oakdale Memorial Hospital’ pen, the sound of his clattering pen masked by his exaggerated sigh. He looked to his left and saw another doctor standing next to him with a smirk.
“Do I know you?” He asked the man to his left.
“You should.”
“Care to specify? I’ve done lots of things with lots of people and you don’t seem like the type I’d do any of those things with.”
“We went to med school together…. You know, where you stole that grant?” The doctor clenched his fists, as he saw Reid’s blank expression. “Does the name Chris Hughes ring a bell?”
“Hughes, as in Bob Hughes?”
“I’m his son.”
“Lucky him. But, Doogie Hughes, how about you-”
“Damn you, Oliver!” Reid rolled his eyes and groaned at the interruption, the owner of the voice he recognized all too well coming closer and closer by the second. Both Chris and Reid turned to face the angry voice, Reid with narrowed eyes and Chris in confusion.
“What the hell are you doing here?!”
********
William Channing had been having a great day. Wonderful, in fact. He had been in Oakdale for a few days now and so far, he was really enjoying his stay. Luke Snyder had made sure his hotel room was everything he could have asked for and more, the people were nice and the grilled cheese sandwiches were amazing. Noah Mayer’s surgery was in six days and his hands were already itching to get inside the young man’s brain.
And up until now, today had been nice. He had just had a nice conversation with Oakdale Memorial’s chief of staff, Bob Hughes, about his temporary privileges and his brief stay in Oakdale and how the success of Noah Mayer’s impending surgery the following week would reflect on the small town’s hospital, especially with Bob’s plans to completely rebuild the neurological wing and-
that’s where his day took a turn for the worse.
Because, apparently, he couldn’t escape the bastard he had tried so hard to get away from. Reid fucking Oliver was in town too, looking forward to the prospect of running that new wing. And now, Channing had found himself in a position where he was basically advancing Reid fucking Oliver’s career by performing Noah’s surgery in Oakdale. Just his luck.
And, of course, five minutes and forty-five… forty-six seconds after his conversation with Bob Hughes, he saw Reid fucking Oliver standing across the hall in a damn doctor’s coat.
“Damn you, Oliver!” And William Channing couldn’t have that. “What the hell are you doing here?!”
********
“Oh, for fu- what is this? ‘Harass-a-genius’ day?” William Channing was standing in front of him, angrily staring at him with his green eyes, just as Chris Hughes put the smirk Reid already disliked him for on his face. Just his luck. “First Doogie over here and now you?”
Chris rolled his eyes, much like Reid had not too long ago. “Oh, yes, Oliver, we have monthly meetings, where we-”
Channing help up his hand, trying to silence the young Hughes, who raised his eyebrows, dumbfounded by the older man’s attempt. “Did you do this on purpose?”
“Contrary to what you might believe, my life does not revolve around the trials and tribulations of William Channing. I got offered a position here, a better one than at Parkland, and I took it.”
“And I’m supposed to believe you had no idea I would be here too?”
“No, I knew. But you’re only here for one patient- which you probably decided on just to keep him away from me- and I’m not.” Reid reached out and patted Channing’s shoulder, to which Channing scoffed and defensively batted Reid’s hand away. “And look at it this way… Now that we’re in the same hospital again, it’ll be so much easier for me to steal Noah Mayer’s case right out from under you.”
“Wouldn’t be the first time you stole anything.” Chris Hughes muttered, his voice taking the both of them by surprise. Channing and Reid both turned to face Chris, both glared at him and both opened their mouth to speak, their similar words filling the air.
“Why are you still here?”
********
“Good afternoon, you’ve reached Oakdale Memorial Hospital. This is Nurse Becca.”
“Good afternoon, my name is Luke Snyder.”
“What can I do for you today, Mr. Snyder?”
“Well, I’m kind of- I’m looking for a neurosurgeon, Dr. Reid Oliver- I was wondering if he’s currently employed at Memorial. I’d really like to get in touch with him.”
“Dr. Reid Oliver? Hold, please… No, sorry, sir, but we don’t have any paperwork on a Dr. Reid Oliver. Maybe you should try another facility?”
“Oh… Yes, I’ll be sure to do that. Thank you.”
“Sure. Have a nice day, Mr. Snyder.”
********
Eight minutes after Nurse Becca’s phone call with Luke Snyder, she caught a man trying to grab a handful of chocolate chip cookies out of the cookie jar in the nurse’s lounge. The man glared at her when she tried to let him know that those cookies weren’t for everyone and his name tag informed her that his name was Dr. Reid Oliver, the neurosurgeon Mr. Snyder had been looking for. As the man brushed past her, munching on one of the cookies her fellow nurse Gretchen had baked, she made a mental note to try to get in touch with Mr. Snyder again, to tell him that Dr. Reid Oliver did in fact work at Oakdale Memorial.
Five minutes after that, three car crash victims came in and the mental note slipped away from her.
NEXT
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A/N: Short chapter is short! 1) Oh, Reid, munching on Gretchen's cookies... 2) I hope you enjoyed this final near miss^^... It's time to start paying attention, lol. 3) And don't worry, this is probably the only Chris appearance in the entire fic. I can't write Chris without wanting to do horrible things to him. Bitter? Me? That's right.
Thanks for reading!