Somebody Should Be Kissing Those Lips -- Part 3
PART 1: http://dpracket.livejournal.com/50255.html
PART 2: http://dpracket.livejournal.com/50611.html
On Thursday morning, Reid entered the pre-OP area, with Noah's chart in his hand. He pulled back the curtain of the second bay. "Goodmorning, Mr. Mayer...today's the day you get your si..." Luke was there. Sitting by the side of the bed. The fingers of his right hand slotted with Noah's left hand. "Oh," Reid said. "I didn't realize you had company. I'll leave you alone and come back in a few mintues."
"It's okay, Dr. Oliver. You can say whatever you need to say in front of Luke. I called him last night and asked for him to drive me here this morning. I didn't realize until the surgery was upon me, how much I need his support." Reid's eyes locked on Luke's as Noah raised their joined limbs and kissed the back of Luke's hand.
Reid nodded. "Okay, yeah. Um...support's good." He ran a hand through his hair and focused on Noah. He walked to the side of the bed, opposite Luke and looked at the monitor. "Your BP and heartrate are a little high, but that's normal. Are you feeling nervous?"
Noah nodded. "We're going to give you something for that. Your BP normally runs on the low side of normal, but stress can send it up." Reid placed his hand on Noah's newly shaved head and smiled. "Nice haircut."
"I feel like I'm joining the Marines," Noah joked.
"Has the anesthesiologist been in to see you?"
"Yes. Dr. Maddox."
"Good. Then we are ready to proceed. Soon, a nurse will come in and administer a sedative in your IV line. It won't knock you out, but it will relax you. It's a transition drug so that you'll be calm when you arrive in the OR before they put you under. Any nervousness or apprehension that you're feeling will quickly disappear. Even though you'll still be awake, you may not remember much after she administers it, so you might want to say your 'see-you-laters' before she comes in. Do you have any questions?"
"No. You answered them all yesterday," said Noah. "I'm just ready to get this over with already."
"Mr. Snyder," Reid said, his eyes turning toward Luke but not quite meeting his gaze. "You'll be in the waiting room?"
"Yes," Luke answered, his voice cracking. He cleared his throat. "Yes," he repeated.
"I will send a nurse out during the surgery to brief you, about half way through. And I will come to see you after the surgery."
Luke nodded. "Do you have any questions?" Reid asked Luke. Look shook his head. "Very well, then," Reid said, turning back to Noah, taking his right hand and shaking it firmly. "You, sir, I will see in recovery in about five hours. Have a good sleep."
Noah chuckled. "Thank you."
Reid nodded, briefly looked at Luke, and left the pre-OP bay.
Luke watched him leave.
"Luke?"
Luke continued to stare at the spot where Reid had been.
"Luke?!" Noah said, sounding irritated.
"Um...yeah, I'm sorry...but can you excuse me for a minute, Noah?. There actually is something I need to ask Dr. Oliver."
"No, c'mon, Luke. Don't bother him. He's about to cut into my skull; can you not upset him just this once?"
"I'm not going to upset him. I'll just be a minute..." Luke didn't wait for Noah's response and took off after Reid.
He found him speaking quietly to a nurse at the nurse's station. He waited for them to finish their conversation, Reid handing her Noah's chart with a tight, perfunctory grin. "Thank you."
"Dr. Oliver?" Luke said.
Reid turned. "Yes, Mr. Snyder," he answered as he shrugged off his lab coat and pulled the stethoscope from around his neck.
"Please, take care of him."
Reid nodded. "That's what you dragged me here to do, isn't it?"
Luke looked down and then back up, but Reid already had his back to him and was walking away.
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"What do you mean, he's in a coma? What does that mean?" Luke demanded hours later in the mostly empty waiting room.
"It means that we have been unsuccessful in rousing him to consciousness, as of yet. Due to unforeseen complications, his brain suffered more trauma than anticipated, and there is a lot of swelling. I placed a drains to alleviate cranial pressure, and the ICU will monitor him closely."
"The ICU?!"
"All neurosurgical patients are placed in the ICU after surgery."
"How did this happen?" Luke demanded, tears spilling from his eyes.
"When I got inside, there was far more damage than I anticipated."
"But how? How did this happen?" Luke repeated.
"This type of surgery comes with a high degree of risk. You and Mr. Mayer were both aware of that going into this."
"No. NO! You've been swaggering around this hospital for weeks, proclaiming your genius, saying that you're the only one in the world who can perform this surgery, and now this?! I want you to quit talking to me like a doctor, and start talking to me like someone who gives a shit about your patient!" Luke screamed, pushing Reid's chest and causing Reid to take a few steps back.
"Hey, what's going on here?" Holden asked, as he entered the waiting room with Lily and stepping between Luke and Reid, putting a hand on Luke's chest.
"What have you done?" Luke growled at Reid.
"What's wrong? Is Noah OK?" Lily shrieked, panic in her voice.
"I don't know, mom," Luke spat angrily. "You'll have to ask his brilliant surgeon, who suddenly isn't so sure of himself! Noah's in a coma."
Lily gasped.
"Is this true?" Holden asked.
"Yes. We are monitoring him closely. The first 24 hours are critical. He won't be allowed any visitors until he's stabilized." He turned to Luke and touched his elbow. He looked straight into his brown eyes. "If there are any changes, you will be the first to know." Luke jerked his arm away from Reid's touch. Reid nodded his goodbye to Holden and Lily and exited the waiting area.
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Two hours later, Reid was getting dressed after a long, hot shower and heard the doorbell ring. He quickly pulled his pants up the rest of the way and walked to the door, zipping and buttoning them. "Coming." He reached the door and pulled it open, revealing an even more irate Luke than earlier.
"What kind of surgeon leaves his patient after surgery?!" Luke demanded, walking into the apartment past Reid and turning around angrily.
"Come in," Reid said sarcastically. He closed the door. "Every doctor on the planet Earth, that's who."
"You should be at the hospital with him. He's in a coma! He could have brain damage, you said it yourself! Even worse, he could die! Don't you even care if he lives or dies?"
Reid rubbed a hand over his face and reached for his shirt. "I was ordered home by my Chief of Staff," Reid answered, trying to keep his voice even. "And there's nothing I can do for Noah right now, until there is a change in his condition."
"Right. Because the damage is already done."
Reid sighed. "Maybe you should leave, Luke." He put his shirt on and straightened his collar but didn't bother with the buttons before reaching for his belt.
"I'm not leaving. Not until you tell me what happend. Something had to happen. You don't fail, Dr. Oliver. Not unless you want to."
"Excuse me?" Reid asked, hearing the anger rise in his own voice.
"Tell me the truth. Did you do this on purpose?"
Reid stopped securing his belt. "What? Did I...?"
"Stop! Just stop! And answer the question!" Luke said, putting his hands up.
"Answer what? You're asking me if I deliberately harmed your boyfriend while I was operating on him?"
"That's just it. He's not my boyfriend and hasn't been for quite a while now. I saw your face when you walked in on Noah and me before the surgery. You hated seeing us together, and ..."
"What are you talking about?" Reid said, rolling his eyes.
"You can't understand the fact that I haven't fallen at your feet...because you get what you want, when you want, and the fact that I walked away from you last week is driving you insane."
"The only person insane in this room is you!" Reid spat, stepping closer to Luke. "We had one hot, fast fuck, and..."
"Just admit it!" Luke screamed, not wanting to hear what Reid had to say.
"Which part?" Reid screamed back. "That I have feelings for you...or you THINK I have feelings for you...and that offing your boyfriend on the operating table was going to give me a better shot?"
"No, of course not. Not consciously. Because that would mean you have feelings, and that goes against how you live your life. But when I rejected you..."
"You need to shut the hell up! What you're accusing me of is outrageous, and I'm not going to listen to it anymore!" He turned away from Luke.
"Of course! Because we're not talking about how flawless and perfect you are! You have to believe that, right? But you DID have feelings about this. You did. And those feelings messed you up. You MADE them mess you up!"
"I made them?"
"Well how else did this happen?" Luke asked, with tears in his eyes.
"After all the time and care I've given the past few months to the man that you love, whether or not you're with him, you really think I have an investment in seeing him harmed...or dead? That's who you think I am?" Reid heard his own voice crack with emotion.
"I have no idea who you are," Luke said softly. "I know very little about you. What I do know is that I was able to blackmail you pretty easily to get you to come here. So, there must be something you're hiding. Maybe you're not what you say you are. How should I know? All I know is that someone I care about is lying unconscious in a hospital bed with an undetermined future, and his care was in your hands, and now..."
"You don't know what the fuck you're talking about. But you want to know what I'm hiding? I'll tell you what I'm hiding," Reid said, his voice even. "In 2008, I had a patient. A 15-year-old illegal Honduran kid. He and his parents were migrant workers. No money. Definitely no insurance. The kid had a benign tumor, but it needed to be removed. That's the thing about the brain...benign tumors can cause as much damage as the malignant ones sometimes, depending on what they're pushing on. And his needed to come out. It was benign, but it was fast growing, and it would eventually cause impairment or even death. The thing is, it was an easy fix...accessible via surgery. But none of the hospitals in the area would allow the surgery because the family couldn't pay. It was an election year. Illegal immigration is a hot topic, especially in Texas. It was all fucking beauracracy and politics. I fought for that kid. I almost got fired for it."
Luke took a step back, his face softening. "I didn't..."
"So, I took matters into my own hands," Reid continued, his voice lowering. "Fuck them. Nobody was going to tell me this kid had to die. I flew him and his family to Mexico, along with two surgical nurses who I trusted. They risked their careers because they trusted me in return, knew it was the right thing to do. We did the surgery in a Mexican hospital with a mostly Spanish-speaking surgical team, including the anesthesiologist. When it was over, and the kid was recovering, I pulled strings, paid people to look the other way, and got them back into the United States, illegally. I put them up in an apartment and worked with the kid, helping with his rehabilitation myself on nights and weekends. I helped his dad find a job as a custodian. I sponsored his father when he went for his citizenship. In the end, the whole thing cost me a lot of time and money, and it would have cost me my career, had I been caught. But I'd do it again, in a heartbeat. They are now legal. They're safe, and their kid is healthy. He got minority and academic scholarships, and he's majoring in mechanical engineering at Texas A&M. Turns out it was a very smart brain I was working on."
"I had no idea," Luke said softly.
"No, you didn't. So, don't fucking tell me I'd put a patient in jeopardy for something as insignificant as feelings. Feelings? You have a very high opinion of yourself if you think that anything about you would cause me to harm a patient. Your ex-boyfriend's life is monumentally more important to me than fucking you, Mr. Snyder. I have no trouble finding warm places to put my dick. Now get out."
"Reid, I..."
"GET OUT!" Reid repeated, walking to the door and yanking it open.
"I'm sorry," Luke said, "I had no idea. I'm so sorry..."
Reid kept his eyes on the floor until Luke was out of the apartment and then closed the door behind him.
He walked to the couch, yanking off his still un-buttoned shirt, and throwing it across the room, literally growling as he sat down on the couch. He put his head in his hands and took a shakey breath, attempting to steel his emotions but failing miserably. He could feel his hands trembling. His hands NEVER shook. He looked at the door and thumbed at the watery bead in his left eye. He leaned with his head back against the couch and stared at the ceiling.
Feelings. Feelings?
Yeah, he has them.
Fuck.