Bulletproof (prologue)
Title: Bulletproof
Author: blasthisass
Rating: PG-13 to NC-17
Summary: AU- when Luke is shot by Colonel Mayer, his condition quickly deteriorates. In order to save his life, Bob calls in a young, hotshot doctor from Texas, brilliant and already making a name for himself.
Disclaimers: All characters and such property of ATWT, CBS and anyone else who can legally take credit for them. If they were mine, I would take infinitely better care of them. Title from the song by La Roux. There is dialogue from both the time in which the story takes place as well as the LuRe storyline.
A/N: This is unbeta'd, so any mistakes are mine. Ugh. This is probably a bad time to be starting a WIP since classes start on Thursday, but I'll try to update at least weekly
A/N2: So, I probably going to include stuff from the show that was happening around this time. Now, I never made it past the Colonel Mayer shooting in the Nuke story, so something may definitely be off. Blame it on the fact that this is an AU. :D
Comments much appreciated . . . Especially if I'm going to continue :P
Prologue:
“Dad, what are you doing?!”
“Get out of here! I told you to get out of here, Noah!”
A gunshot. It was the last thing Luke Snyder heard before his world went black.
***
Holden paced in the waiting room, unable to sit still. His gaze passed over Lily and, despite whatever nonsense had been going on between them recently, he almost couldn’t channel any anger toward her. She was sitting, unable sob, but tears were falling down her cheeks nonetheless. Maybe he shouldn’t have snapped at her. But it was getting to him, it was really getting to him that she’d known-if not known, suspected-something was going and had done nothing to stop it, nothing to protect the very life of their son. Noah was sitting next to her, staring at his shoes, his blue eyes blank. His hands were shaking and he had to intertwine his fingers in order to try to hide it.
Holden heard the doors open behind him and he let out a sigh when he saw Bob moving toward him, removing the hairnet he’d had in place for the operation when they’d rushed Luke into surgery.
“How is he, Bob?” Holden inquired, fighting hard to be the strong one in the situation, to keep the panic out of his voice.
Bob shook his head wearily. Years of experience had told him that the honest truth, no matter how it would hurt, would be the simplest to tell. “Not good.”
“What do you mean, not good?” Lily exclaimed, leaping to her feet and making it to Holden’s side at lightning speed. Noah didn’t move from where he was sitting, though when he raised his eyes there was fear and guilt swimming in their wetness. “The surgery, what happened with the surgery? You were barely in there-Oh, God!” she gasped, her eyes widening with realization. “Luke-”
“Is alive,” Bob reassured her, running his hand wearily through his hair. “But I’m afraid the damage is extensive. He’s fallen into a coma and unless we operate soon, he’s not going to wake up.”
“So why aren’t you in there operating on our son?” Lily yelled. Holden placed a hand on her shoulder, the gesture communicating that she ought to calm down and let Bob explain to them what was happening. Her voice died down in her throat and she choked back a devastated sigh. She felt the overwhelming desire to turn and cling to Holden, but he’d already moved away and she bit her lip at the action and turned her attention to Bob.
“The bullet that was shot didn’t penetrate the skull fully-that is to say, the bullet itself was not fully in one piece. If that had been the case, it would have been fairly easy to remove. When it hit the skull, however, the barrier formed by the bone was strong enough to shatter the bullet, but not enough to prevent it from entering the brain. The way the fragments scattered, it would take an incredibly invasive surgery, and I’m afraid that none of the surgeons we have employed at the hospital have the skill to successfully perform the surgery.”
Holden frowned. “So, what do we do?”
“The only thing we can do is call in someone from the outside, a specialist, who will perform the surgery,” Bob said, mentally scouring his brain to determine whether there was anyone at all he could think of that he could trust to perform the surgery.
“And if we can’t to that?” Lily demanded, her eyes swimming in the panic of her voice.
“Luke’s condition will continue to deteriorate. I’m afraid the longer we wait with the surgery, the slimmer the chances are that he will wake up at all.”
“Oh, God,” Lily choked out, backing away from Bob as though he was invoking a death sentence on her son and collapsing back in the chair next to Noah, who’d buried his head in his hands at the news.
“And there’s nothing we can do until then?” Holden demanded, fingers twitching by his side.
“Just sit and hold onto your faith. I’ll let you know if anything at all happens.” Bob smiled, hoping it would fuel them with reassurance, before turning to go to his office.
***
Nothing. Bob had spent hours scouring medical journals, scouring neurological journals, and as far as he could tell, he would continue to come up with nothing. No procedure, no name, no chance. He leaned back in his chair, rubbing his eyes. He was not one to ever lose faith, but he wasn’t seeing a way out of the situation.
His eyes glanced up to the door of his office as there was a quick knock and Alex Martins, his chief of neurology, poked his head in. “Got anything?”
“Nothing,” Bob answered, wearily, fingering the bridge of his nose, trying to clear his head of the migraine he could feel building.
Alex nodded before approaching the desk and tossing a copy of the latest Dallas Observer on the desk. Bob raised an eyebrow at the newspaper, questioning everything from what could be going through Alex’s mind, to why on Earth he had the latest edition of the Texas newspaper, to where he’d even gotten it.
“What is this?”
“Page five,” was all Alex said in response to the question. “I have to go, I have a consult.”
If possible, Bob’s eyebrows rose even higher and he hesitated for a moment after Alex had left before opening up the newspaper. Page five contained a brief health section, most of which was taken up by a profile story on a new-hire at the Parkland Hospital. Bob’s eyes skimmed briefly over the picture of a less-than-amused young man, looking like he was barely out of medical school. Bob was not impressed by the image. That sentiment changed when he started reading. His mouth dropped as he read, praise for the young doctor’s skills practically bursting off the page and smacking him over the head. High school graduate after three years, top of his class. Same with college-Harvard. Harvard Medical School, graduated top of his class. Six years of residency at John’s Hopkins. Neurosurgeon. The list when on and on. This was brilliant, this was . . .
Bob had gotten halfway through the article when he stopped, looked up the number for the hospital and dialed it. His hands were shaking from a combination of nerves and excitement, so much so that he misdialed twice. This was his only chance and he couldn’t let it slip through his fingers. He couldn’t do that to Holden or Lily. To Luke. Finally, he got it right and settled back in his chair, listening nervously to the rings echoed through the earpiece.
“Parkland Hospital. What can I do for you?”
“Yes, this is Dr. Bob Hughes from the Oakdale Memorial Hospital. Could you please connect me to Dr. Reid Oliver?”
Chapter 1-->
Author: blasthisass
Rating: PG-13 to NC-17
Summary: AU- when Luke is shot by Colonel Mayer, his condition quickly deteriorates. In order to save his life, Bob calls in a young, hotshot doctor from Texas, brilliant and already making a name for himself.
Disclaimers: All characters and such property of ATWT, CBS and anyone else who can legally take credit for them. If they were mine, I would take infinitely better care of them. Title from the song by La Roux. There is dialogue from both the time in which the story takes place as well as the LuRe storyline.
A/N: This is unbeta'd, so any mistakes are mine. Ugh. This is probably a bad time to be starting a WIP since classes start on Thursday, but I'll try to update at least weekly
A/N2: So, I probably going to include stuff from the show that was happening around this time. Now, I never made it past the Colonel Mayer shooting in the Nuke story, so something may definitely be off. Blame it on the fact that this is an AU. :D
Comments much appreciated . . . Especially if I'm going to continue :P
Prologue:
“Dad, what are you doing?!”
“Get out of here! I told you to get out of here, Noah!”
A gunshot. It was the last thing Luke Snyder heard before his world went black.
***
Holden paced in the waiting room, unable to sit still. His gaze passed over Lily and, despite whatever nonsense had been going on between them recently, he almost couldn’t channel any anger toward her. She was sitting, unable sob, but tears were falling down her cheeks nonetheless. Maybe he shouldn’t have snapped at her. But it was getting to him, it was really getting to him that she’d known-if not known, suspected-something was going and had done nothing to stop it, nothing to protect the very life of their son. Noah was sitting next to her, staring at his shoes, his blue eyes blank. His hands were shaking and he had to intertwine his fingers in order to try to hide it.
Holden heard the doors open behind him and he let out a sigh when he saw Bob moving toward him, removing the hairnet he’d had in place for the operation when they’d rushed Luke into surgery.
“How is he, Bob?” Holden inquired, fighting hard to be the strong one in the situation, to keep the panic out of his voice.
Bob shook his head wearily. Years of experience had told him that the honest truth, no matter how it would hurt, would be the simplest to tell. “Not good.”
“What do you mean, not good?” Lily exclaimed, leaping to her feet and making it to Holden’s side at lightning speed. Noah didn’t move from where he was sitting, though when he raised his eyes there was fear and guilt swimming in their wetness. “The surgery, what happened with the surgery? You were barely in there-Oh, God!” she gasped, her eyes widening with realization. “Luke-”
“Is alive,” Bob reassured her, running his hand wearily through his hair. “But I’m afraid the damage is extensive. He’s fallen into a coma and unless we operate soon, he’s not going to wake up.”
“So why aren’t you in there operating on our son?” Lily yelled. Holden placed a hand on her shoulder, the gesture communicating that she ought to calm down and let Bob explain to them what was happening. Her voice died down in her throat and she choked back a devastated sigh. She felt the overwhelming desire to turn and cling to Holden, but he’d already moved away and she bit her lip at the action and turned her attention to Bob.
“The bullet that was shot didn’t penetrate the skull fully-that is to say, the bullet itself was not fully in one piece. If that had been the case, it would have been fairly easy to remove. When it hit the skull, however, the barrier formed by the bone was strong enough to shatter the bullet, but not enough to prevent it from entering the brain. The way the fragments scattered, it would take an incredibly invasive surgery, and I’m afraid that none of the surgeons we have employed at the hospital have the skill to successfully perform the surgery.”
Holden frowned. “So, what do we do?”
“The only thing we can do is call in someone from the outside, a specialist, who will perform the surgery,” Bob said, mentally scouring his brain to determine whether there was anyone at all he could think of that he could trust to perform the surgery.
“And if we can’t to that?” Lily demanded, her eyes swimming in the panic of her voice.
“Luke’s condition will continue to deteriorate. I’m afraid the longer we wait with the surgery, the slimmer the chances are that he will wake up at all.”
“Oh, God,” Lily choked out, backing away from Bob as though he was invoking a death sentence on her son and collapsing back in the chair next to Noah, who’d buried his head in his hands at the news.
“And there’s nothing we can do until then?” Holden demanded, fingers twitching by his side.
“Just sit and hold onto your faith. I’ll let you know if anything at all happens.” Bob smiled, hoping it would fuel them with reassurance, before turning to go to his office.
***
Nothing. Bob had spent hours scouring medical journals, scouring neurological journals, and as far as he could tell, he would continue to come up with nothing. No procedure, no name, no chance. He leaned back in his chair, rubbing his eyes. He was not one to ever lose faith, but he wasn’t seeing a way out of the situation.
His eyes glanced up to the door of his office as there was a quick knock and Alex Martins, his chief of neurology, poked his head in. “Got anything?”
“Nothing,” Bob answered, wearily, fingering the bridge of his nose, trying to clear his head of the migraine he could feel building.
Alex nodded before approaching the desk and tossing a copy of the latest Dallas Observer on the desk. Bob raised an eyebrow at the newspaper, questioning everything from what could be going through Alex’s mind, to why on Earth he had the latest edition of the Texas newspaper, to where he’d even gotten it.
“What is this?”
“Page five,” was all Alex said in response to the question. “I have to go, I have a consult.”
If possible, Bob’s eyebrows rose even higher and he hesitated for a moment after Alex had left before opening up the newspaper. Page five contained a brief health section, most of which was taken up by a profile story on a new-hire at the Parkland Hospital. Bob’s eyes skimmed briefly over the picture of a less-than-amused young man, looking like he was barely out of medical school. Bob was not impressed by the image. That sentiment changed when he started reading. His mouth dropped as he read, praise for the young doctor’s skills practically bursting off the page and smacking him over the head. High school graduate after three years, top of his class. Same with college-Harvard. Harvard Medical School, graduated top of his class. Six years of residency at John’s Hopkins. Neurosurgeon. The list when on and on. This was brilliant, this was . . .
Bob had gotten halfway through the article when he stopped, looked up the number for the hospital and dialed it. His hands were shaking from a combination of nerves and excitement, so much so that he misdialed twice. This was his only chance and he couldn’t let it slip through his fingers. He couldn’t do that to Holden or Lily. To Luke. Finally, he got it right and settled back in his chair, listening nervously to the rings echoed through the earpiece.
“Parkland Hospital. What can I do for you?”
“Yes, this is Dr. Bob Hughes from the Oakdale Memorial Hospital. Could you please connect me to Dr. Reid Oliver?”
Chapter 1-->