The Brain vs The Heart - A Battle Royale
Chapter 3
It truly was a thing of beauty to watch Luke decided. Once they had arrived at the hospital Reid had handed him his coat and gone into full bad ass doctor mode. Luke enjoyed his chance to stand back and watch as Dr. Oliver yelled at nurses, curtly told his parents that they could thank him once he’d done something worth their thanks and made Chris Hughes storm off in a huff like a fifteen year old bitchy girl. He barked orders like he owned the place and didn’t stop until everyone around him was doing exactly what he told them to. Luke wondered if it had been like this the last time he was there. He had been so wrapped up in Noah and what he needed that he hadn’t really been paying any attention. Watching Dr. Oliver was like poetry in motion. That is if said poetry was R rated for language and verging on NC-17 for the thoughts they invoked in Luke.
It didn’t take long to determine that Ethan needed to get into surgery as quickly as possible. Dr. Oliver made a nurse page Dr. Hughes so he could get the OR prepped. Chris seemed no happier when he returned than he had been when he’d left.
“Listen here Dr. Oliver, I’m the chief of staff at this hospital now and I don’t care if you bossed your way around here last time like you owned the place. You will respect the authority I have.”
“What’s your name again?”
“Chris Hughes. We went to medical school together but of course YOU wouldn’t remember that would you?”
“Nope can’t say I do. You must have been just mediocre enough to pass though so congrats on that. Did you say Hughes as in Bob Hughes FORMER chief of staff?”
“He’s my father.”
“Figures... You gotta love nepotism in middle America.”
“Just wait a second.”
“Sorry Doogie, can’t do that. You see there is a kid in there that needs my help and since no one else in this place is capable I’m going to crack his skull open and do what needs to be done to fix him. Now get the OR prepped. I’m going to talk to his family and then scrub up” he said patting him on the shoulder as a way of dismissal. Reid walked away before Chris could comment further.
Reid walked over to where Luke and his parents were huddled together. “Ok, here’s what I know. The swelling of the brain is being caused by the contrecoup or secondary impact to the skull. The laceration to the back of the skull at the point of impact isn’t causing the edema. It was the brain bouncing on the front of the skull like a pinball.” He realized he was being too graphic by the horrified expression Luke’s mother had gotten on her face. “I need to go and perform a ventriculostomy. I will cut a small hole into Ethan’s skull and inset a plastic drain tube. The cerebrospinal fluid is building up in a tricky spot. I’m not going to sugar coat it. This surgery will not be easy, but without it he will die. We need to relieve the pressure on his skull. The nurse over there has a consent form you need to sign before I get started.” No one moved for a moment. “I can’t stress enough how time is of the essence here.” That snapped both Lily and Holden into action. They thanked him again and walked over to sign the paperwork looking shell shocked.
Reid started to walk away but Luke grabbed his forearm stopping him. Reid looked down at Luke’s hand and then up to his face. “What is it Mr. Snyder?”
“I just…please just make him better ok. He’s so tiny but he’s a great kid and…I don’t know what I would do if he wasn’t ok.”
Reid resisted the urge to place his hand on Luke’s cheek to comfort him. There was something about the damn kid that brought out a side of Reid that he hadn’t even fathomed existed. “That’s what I intend to do, but you’re going to have to let go of my arm in order for me to do that.”
Luke hadn’t even realized he had left his hand there. He removed it quickly like his brain had just registered that his hand was on top of a burning stove. “Sorry”
Reid gave him a quick smirk and raised an eyebrow.
“Yeah right” Luke nodded his head. “Not sorry.”
“Better” and Reid started to head out again. After a couple steps against his better judgment he turned and included “I’ll send someone out with an update after we get started” and was rewarded with the most amazing smile from Mr. Snyder.
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Reid had in fact sent someone out on three separate occasions during the almost five hours that Ethan was in surgery. As the youngest Snyder child was being wheeled into recovery at almost 5 am this time it was the doctor himself who came to update Luke and his family.
“Long and dirty….just the way I like ‘em.”
“How did it go Dr. Oliver?” Luke asked.
“A couple surprises in there but nothing I couldn’t handle. Ethan will be in recovery for at least the next eight hours. After that he will be moved to the ICU. You all need to expect for him not to come out of the coma for at least a couple of days. His brain needs time to heal and the best way for it to do that is to basically shut itself off. Since I’ve been up for 24 hours now I suggest you do what I’m going to, find a bed and sleep for a while.”
Holden took a hold of Reid’s hand pumping it up and down. “We can’t thank you enough for coming Dr. Oliver. I don’t know what we would have done if you hadn’t.”
“It’s what I do. Now if you will excuse me, I need to go check myself into that germ infested ancient pile of brick you like to affectionately call a hotel.”
“Absolutely not” Luke blurted out. His parents and Dr. Oliver looked at him with questioning. “You are not going to the Lakeview. You’re coming home with me.” Now the three of them were gaping at him like he’d sprouted a second head. “I mean…. I um… I remembered that you hate hotels and so I called my grandmother and she sent someone over to the cottage and changed the sheets and set out fresh towels and……you can sleep at my place. I’ll take the couch.” By the end of the sentence Luke could tell he had turned a nice rosy color.
There was no way Reid was going to his place. That was definitely not a good idea. “While I appreciate the offer it’s completely unnecessary.”
“I disagree Dr. Oliver. I think it is the least I can do for everything you’ve done for me, my brother and my family. Besides, your bag is still in my car. It’s going where I go.”
Reid contemplated the pros and cons of going with Mr. Snyder. He decided that a solid eight hours of sleep outweighed whatever fantasies he might have to endure that his mind would surely conjured up while he was awake. “Fine, let’s go.”
Lily watched them walk away with an extremely angry look on her face. “You’re just going to stand there and let that happen?” she yelled at Holden.
“What do you want me to do? He’s an adult Lily. He can make his own decisions.”
‘Not if they are the wrong ones’ she thought to herself. No, this would not do….not do at all.
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They both crashed immediately after getting to the small cottage Luke had been living at again the last four months or so. Neither said a word to the other during the car ride or the walk to the door from the garage. Luke quickly showed Dr. Oliver where the bedroom was and grabbed some sweats to sleep in before exiting the room closing the door behind him.
Luke was the first to wake up. It was just shortly after noon. The first thing he did was call the hospital to see if there were any updates on Ethan. There were not. He drank half a pot of coffee and made a couple of calls for Grimaldi shipping before he decided to shower. The hot water beating down on him did more to rejuvenate him than the coffee had. He took more time than normal, allowing his mind to wander off to the man who was currently sleeping in his bed. He was more than a little flustered by this sudden onset of feelings he had for the doctor whom he wasn’t even sure was gay. Looking down at himself he had to admit those feelings clearly included lust.
After he got out of the shower he wrapped himself from the waist down in a towel realizing only then that he didn’t really have anything else he could put on. He hadn’t thought about grabbing clothes for the day at 5am so now he would either have to go into his room and risk waking Dr. Oliver or just stay in the towel until he go up. Neither sounded like very good options. He reluctantly decided to just stay in the towel hoping it wasn’t too long before Dr. Oliver would wake up.
Reid woke up just before 2 pm and that was only because his pager went off. Rubbing his eyes he gazed around the room briefly having no idea where he was until the events of the previous day came flooding back to him. Bringing his right hand up, he pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. He figuratively kicked himself for letting Mr. Snyder so easily talk him into coming here with him. Somehow he had a way of getting Reid to do things he didn’t want to and Reid had yet to figure out how to say no. Looking around for a phone and not seeing one he left the bedroom to find it so he could return the page. What he found when he opened the door was a shirtless Luke Snyder who was sitting on the couch bent forward typing away at his laptop. ‘Yeah I could get used to this’ was the first thing that went through Reid’s head. He cleared his throat and Luke stood up revealing a small towel covering his bottom half. ‘Could definitely get used to this’ he thought.
“I had a page from Memorial. I need to use the phone.”
It took Luke a few seconds to respond. “Oh of course it’s right over here” Luke walked over and grabbed the phone off the cradle. “There is coffee in the kitchen if you want some just help yourself. I’ll go and get dressed.” Luke couldn’t bring himself to look at Reid as he handed him the phone. The first thing Luke had noticed when Dr. Oliver had come out of his bedroom and cleared his throat was how extraordinarily hot he looked in his scrub bottoms and faded t-shirt with that messy bed head hair and an expression on his face that looked entirely too pleased with himself. Luke was deathly afraid that if he did look at the doctor there was no telling what his face might reveal.
Luke got changed quickly deciding he needed to get out of the house in a hurry before he said or did something to embarrass himself. He returned to the living room just as Reid was getting off the phone.
“They just wanted to let me know Ethan has been moved to the ICU. He’s stable and the swelling is already starting to recede. I’m going to take a shower if that’s ok and then head over there to run some new scans.”
“Yes of course. I left a towel out for you and I had someone bring a car over for you a little while ago. It’s yours to use for however long you need it. I also set out a spare key for the front door. I’m going to head into work and see to some things I can’t do from here. I left my cell number by the key if you need to reach me for any reason. I’ll um….see you later I guess.”
“Whoa Mr. Snyder, you’re moving awfully fast aren’t you? Don’t you want to check with your boyfriend, what’s his name, before you practically move me in here with you?”
“Don’t worry, that’s not an issue and I know I’ve said it before, but the name is Luke.” He left it at that. He grabbed his bag and quickly got out the door.
Let’s call this a draw: Brain 2 ½, Heart 1 ½.