The Brain vs The Heart - A Battle Royale
Story Summary: He came, he saw, he cut, he went home…. What if when Dr. Reid Oliver came to Oakdale to operate on Noah he actually had? Noah gets his eyesight back in January, not May. Reid leaves after less than a week so….no new neuro wing, no trip to Dallas for a first kiss, no almost sex, no I love you, no train….. In the battle of the brain vs the heart who wins???
Chapter 1
October 2010
Luke was sitting in his office at Grimaldi shipping working on mundane order forms when he got the call. Now four hours later he could still remember several things from that exact moment vividly. The light rain that had been tapping on his window all morning had just stopped, the lunch he’d so proudly brought from home and was getting ready to eat had smelled delicious and how his hand had instantly picked up the picture of himself with his brother and sisters at the picnic by the pond the four of them had gone on without their parents last month.
Luke was now sitting outside the emergency room area at Oakdale Memorial. He hadn’t been in the hospital in several months and could have gone years without having to visit again as far as he was concerned. His head hurt from all the horrific scenarios that were playing out like a bad movie over and over in his mind. What was he supposed to do? He just could not take the inactivity. He couldn’t sit there in the ridiculously uncomfortable chairs for one more second and do nothing. At that moment he saw Bob Hughes walk by and Luke jumped up cutting into his path so he couldn’t go any further.
“Do you know what is going on in there?”
“Oh Luke, hello it’s good to see you, although certainly not under these circumstances.”
“Do you know what’s going on in there or not?”
“I’m sorry, I do not. I’m actually only here this afternoon collecting some of the things still left in my old office. I’m not sure if you heard, but I retired last week. My son Christopher is now the chief of staff. If you would like, I can step in and see if I might find someone who could get some answers for you.”
“Yes, if you could please. No one has told me anything yet and mom and dad won’t land for at least another couple of hours. If there are decisions to be made about Ethan, I need to be ready to make them.”
“Let me see what I can do ok. Just hold tight right here.”
For another six minutes and 25 seconds Luke found himself pacing back and forth waiting for Bob or anyone for that matter to return. Finally on the 26th second the doors opened up and Chris walked with his father toward Luke.
“Ok” Chris started “first I think you should sit down. You need to be calm because I have a lot of things I need to explain to you.”
Luke gave him a look that screamed I am not a two year old and stated as calmly as possible “just say it Chris.”
“He was thrown quite a distance from the horse the babysitter told us. The actual fall resulted in a broken arm and three cracked ribs. The arm has been set already and is in a cast. The bigger issue is that he hit his head on a rock where he landed and there was a substantial amount of blood loss from the laceration on this head. He also has severe swelling to his brain and he isn’t waking up.”
With a quick intake of air Luke looked back and forth between the faces of the two men standing in front of him. “So you’re telling me he is in a coma? For how long, can you tell me if there is any other damage to his brain? Do we need to worry about paralysis or any internal bleeding?”
“The short answer is I don’t have a lot of answers” Chris replied. “I can tell you there is no internal bleeding, his extremities responded to stimuli and all other organs are functioning normally. We just have no way of predicting if the swelling in the brain will continue or what kind of damage he has suffered or if he will wake up and when that might be…..if at all” his voice trailing off at the end. “I’m sorry.”
“He will wake up” Luke responded emphatically. “He has to. There is no other option. What are you doing for him now to make that happen?”
“Luke, you need to understand we just don’t have the facilities here or the personnel to treat this type of head trauma. If you want to have him transferred to a hospital in Chicago they might be able to do more for him. There is a neurologist there…..a Dr. Channing who might be an option to get a consultation from.”
Luke almost laughed right in Chris’ face. “Dr. Channing is a hack and we aren’t moving Ethan anywhere. Moving him in his current condition isn’t going to do anything to help his prognosis.” Speaking to Chris like he was the two year old he continued at a slow pace emphasizing each word “even I know that much. Since you seem content to just do nothing I think it’s time to take it out of your hands.”
“Now Luke, just hold on one second” Bob stepped in and spoke for the first time since coming out with Chris. “Christopher is doing the best he can.”
“Yeah well, his best isn’t good enough now is it?” Luke knew he was being rude, but just couldn’t gather the needed energy to be civil. It was times like this that he wished he didn’t live in this small town when somehow being mediocre seemed to be enough for most people.
Bob opened his mouth to respond but Chris put a hand on his father’s arm to stop him “I’m open to suggestions Luke if you have any. I want to make sure little Ethan is ok just as much as you do.”
“Somehow I doubt that Chris, but don’t worry, I know exactly who to call. Do you think you can handle keeping my brother stable while I make that call or is that too much to ask for?”
A look of both anger and frustration appeared on the younger Hughes’ face then quickly disappeared replaced by a perfectly fake smile. “Just let me know how you want to proceed once you are off the phone” he answered and then turned around and headed back toward the emergency room leaving Bob standing with Luke. They could both hear him mutter something under his breath about damn Grimaldi something or other as he walked through the doors.
Bob looked a little sheepishly at Luke “um… Luke, about Christopher”
Luke just waved it off “don’t even worry about it Bob. If going Grimaldi on him gets the job done then it doesn’t really matter to me. Now if you will excuse me a minute, I have a phone call to make and I would prefer to do it in private.”
“Certainly just let me know if there is anything I can do. I am very sorry this has happened to Ethan. I can only hope that he will be ok.”
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Luke scrolled through the contact numbers in his cell phone and found the number he was looking for. Finding it, he thought briefly about how weird it was that he had never deleted it although he’d had no use for it in over nine months. He psyched himself up for the call and channeled his inner Grimaldi to the fullest. Steeling himself for what he was sure would be a very unpleasant conversation he highlighted the number and hit talk. It was answered on the fourth ring.
“Oliver”
“Um yes hello Dr. Oliver it’s Luke Snyder.”
“Who?”
“Luke Snyder from Oakdale Illinois” he said hopefully. He didn’t know if the doctor would remember him or not. Then the phone on the other end went dead.
‘Well, clearly he remembers me.’ Luke dialed again. It was answered on the second ring.
“Oliver”
“Don’t hang up. I….we need your help.”
“What on earth would ever make you think I would even entertain the possibility of helping you with anything Mr. Snyder?”
Ok Luke thought, here goes nothing “well, I still have the um….information I could take to the Texas medical board……so.”
“And what pray tell is wrong with the great love of your life this time?”
“What?”
“The blind one who I made see again.”
Luke shook his head trying to keep up. He had forgotten what a challenge the verbal sparring with Dr. Oliver could be “Oh Noah, no it’s not about him. I’m sure he’s fine…I don’t know… This is about my little brother, Ethan.”
“And I should care why?”
“Well….the medical board” Luke tried again to sound tough, stubborn and as ruthless as Dr. Oliver was sounding.
“Ok, that’s it. I’m sick of this bullshit. We had a deal. I am not one of your servants. I will not be at your beck and call to blackmail anytime you feel like it. Tell me right now what information you think you have that could be so damning to me that you can blackmail me not once but twice into coming to that village of the damned you call home.”
Shit Luke thought. Did he make something up? Could he be just vague enough to make it sound credible enough to get him to come? He highly doubted it. There was no turning back and he needed to help Ethan, no matter what it cost his pride. “Ok here’s the truth. My little brother was in a horseback riding accident this morning and he is in a coma and no one in this poor excuse for a hospital either can or will help him. I know you are the best there is. I’ve seen it first hand and you are the only one I want taking care of him.” He took a deep breath before continuing “I don’t have any information of any kind on you. I never did. I was bluffing…I’m sorry….I just…” and the line went dead again. Dr. Oliver had hung up on him….again.
----
Sitting on the other end of a recently hung up phone in Dallas was an irate Dr. Reid Oliver. He could not believe that little silver spooned trust fund brat. How had he ever allowed himself to be fooled like that? For a guy who prided himself on never letting anyone get the best of him he had to admit he was just a little bit impressed. He thought back to last winter and his short time in Oakhell, Illinois. He had only been there a week, and good riddance he had thought when he had returned to Dallas. The surgery he had performed on what’s his name had added to his already extensive resume so that was ok but the rest of the trip had been torture….thanks to one Luke Snyder.
He didn’t have to try at all to conjure up a clear picture of the younger blond man who had summoned him there the first time. His sweet angelic face and beautiful chocolate brown eyes (shit! sweet and beautiful are not supposed to be in my vocabulary). Mr. Snyder was not at all what he had expected to encounter when he walked into the podunk hospital. He also had not expected the surprising, and almost primal immediate yearning, that had coursed through his body for the kid with the love-of-his-life boyfriend that he just had to fix. All those things added up to mean he couldn’t get out of there fast enough. He couldn’t allow himself to want the loved one of a patient. He had been appalled by his attraction to Mr. Snyder. Coming back to the present it wasn’t surprising to Reid that he had avoided thinking about Luke since he had been back. Life had thankfully returned to normal. He sat at his desk for almost another full minute before muttering ‘well hell’ and picking up the phone.
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Luke had repositioned himself in the uncomfortable waiting room chair at Memorial trying to figure out what the hell he was going to do next when his phone rang. He looked down at the number and couldn’t have been more shocked if it had been God himself. “Hello?”
“I’ll be on the next flight out from Dallas I can get” Reid said without preamble.
“Really? Oh thank you so much…I don’t even know what to say…. I…”
“Whatever, let’s not get all weepy. I’ll call again when I’m at the airport to let you know when to expect me….and Mr. Snyder, you, I mean this, better be worth it.”
Reid had hung up on Luke for a third time before he could respond to that. He looked down at his phone and breathed out a sigh of relief. He had done it. He had no idea how but he had gotten the great Dr. Oliver to agree to come back. Everything was going to be ok now, he just knew it. He got up to find Chris Hughes to let him know help was on the way.
If you’re keeping score at home…. Brain one, Heart one!