Amnesia is Stupid. Chapter 8. FINAL CHAPTER!!!

[nancygrew]

Title: Amnesia is Stupid.  Chapter 8.  Final Chapter.
Author: nancygrew
Rating: G
Disclaimer: Characters belong to ATWT
Notes: Future fic.  Takes place ~late August 2014.  Takes place a year after my story Jade Stays at Luke and Reid's Place.   You do not have to read any of my other fic in order to understand this one.
Summary: Amnesia fic.  Oakdale is stupid.


Reid and Luke were sitting on one of the leather sofas in their home. Luke was sitting sideways with one leg tucked under his body. One of his hands was gently stroking the back of Reid’s neck. Reid found the stroking soothing. He felt that after putting up with the nonsense of the Foolish Giant Who Never Loved Luke Enough, he deserved a little coddling.

"Is there anything special you want to do tonight?" asked Luke.

Reid grinned.

"Other than that," said Luke. "I’m happy that you’re handling this medical crisis so well but I want you to know that I’ll do anything I can to make this easier for you. If you want some peace and quiet, we can hang out here this afternoon and tonight and I can forbid anyone else from coming over with the threat of reading one of your neurosurgery articles to them."

"Hey!" said an insulted Reid. "My articles have been published in the most prestigious medical journals in the world."

"Yeah, they have," agreed Luke. "But oddly enough, our family and friends don’t find discussion of the extra-cranial cerebrovascular system to be as riveting as you do."

"Philistines," sniffed Reid. "They’re probably cardiosurgery fanboys and fangirls."

"If you want to escape the house for a little, I can maybe take you out to the farm for the rest of the afternoon," suggested Luke. "We can go horseback riding or swim in the pond and then we can have supper with some of our family."

Reid gave Luke a look that was clearly questioning his sanity. Luke huffed a laugh.

"Or if you want a night out on the town, we can go to The Juke Joint or The Pizza Bowl," said Luke.

"Are there any businesses in Luke-donia that you don’t own?" asked Reid.

"Sure, but I figured we’d have a lesser chance of being asked to leave an establishment if we owned most of it," said Luke.

"You get kicked out of a lot of places?" asked Reid curiously.

"It’s not me that I was worried about," Luke informed his husband. "Are you in the mood to hit all of the happening hotspots of Oakdale?"

"Both of them?" asked Reid. "Can we just hang out here at home? You don’t need to entertain me. If you want to go in to work, you can go."

"I don’t want to drive you crazy by hovering over you but I’d feel better being around you," Luke said. "You getting shot was very stressful for me. I’m strangely fond of you. But don’t worry about hurting my feelings if I start making you nervous by being clingy. The house is big and I can probably give you some space to yourself if you need it."

"Eh. You’re not too horribly offensive to be around," advised Reid. "I could probably hang out with you for an evening." Luke smiled at Reid as if Reid had just told him that Luke was the sunshine of his life, the apple of his eye, the dilithium crystals of his warp drive.

There was a knock at the door. Luke got up to answer it. It was his mother, Lily Walsh Mason Snyder Grimaldi Santana Snyder Grimaldi Snyder. Luke tried to block her entrance to no avail. She had brushed past him before he could think to exclaim, "Smallpox! The house is quarantined!"

"Baby, I know you didn’t want company today but I really need your help," said Lily.

"How can I help you?" asked Reid pretending that he believed that Luke’s mother was calling him ‘Baby’. Luke’s grin told Reid that Luke knew he was being facetious. Lily’s glare told Reid that Lily was an idiot.

"Luke, I really need your help with the books of The Lakeview," said Lily.

"Mom, I can’t go to The Lakeview to help you with the accounting," said a surprised Luke. "Reid was shot the other day. I need to be here with him."

"The bullet barely grazed him," said Lily. "He has a little bit of amnesia. It’s not like he’s really hurt."

"Wow, just wow," said Luke. "Anyway, if you’re having problems with the accounting, you need to call your accountant. The books are his job."

"I can’t find him," exclaimed Lily. "I think he absconded with most of the hotel’s funds. He didn’t come into work today and he’s not answering the phone. When Craig was arrested for embezzling, he told me that Quentin had been his accomplice but I didn’t believe him. But the bank just called me and money is missing from the hotel’s account."

"Didn’t you hire an outside accountant to go over the books?" asked Luke. "Even if Quentin was innocent of actively helping Craig, he should have caught onto the crime."

"I didn’t want Quentin to think that I didn’t trust him!" cried Lily. Reid rolled his eyes. He wondered if there was any accuracy to the idea that traits like intelligence and business savvy could skip a generation.

"Okay, you need to call Gregory Ward and hire him as your accountant immediately," advised Luke. "See if he can meet you at The Lakeview to go over the books. You also need to call the police to report Quentin. You should see if Uncle Jack can have Dallas Griffin assigned to the case as he’s pretty knowledgeable about financial crimes. You’re going to be tied up for awhile so see if Dad can pick up Ethan after his soccer practice and Natalie after Physics Club."

Lily wrung her hands and started crying. "Luke, I took out a huge mortgage on The Lakeview when we started losing money and I might lose the hotel. I really need your support right now."

"Mom, you know that I’m willing to help but right now Reid needs me," said Luke. "I’ll call Grandmother and have her meet you at The Lakeview."

"Luke, it’s okay," said Reid. "It’s obvious that your mother is a twit and needs someone to help clean up her mess. I’ll be fine on my own for a few hours. I have my cell phone which I’m sure is loaded with the phone numbers of a million Snyders who can rush over to help me if I fall down and scrape my knee."

"I don’t want to abandon you," said Luke. "I can’t leave you in a strange place all alone."

"I promise to call you if I start getting freaked out," said Reid. "Go help Mommie Dumbest."

"How dare you--," huffed Lily.

Luke interrupted his mother. "Reid is being really selfless in encouraging me to leave him so that I can assist you. He doesn’t even know you but he wants me to help you. Please don’t be rude to him. Why don’t you head over to The Lakeview. Call Dad on your way. I’ll head over to Quentin’s apartment to make sure he’s not there. I’ll call Gregory on my way and have him meet you at the hotel. I’ll also call Uncle Jack and see if he can call the airport to see if maybe Quentin hasn’t left town yet. I’ll meet you at the hotel."

"Thank you, baby," said Lily. She kissed his cheek and left.

Luke turned to Reid. "Are you really sure that you’re okay with me abandoning you?"

"I’m not a helpless infant you’re leaving in the middle of the Serengeti. I’m a genius you’re leaving in the middle of a tricked out mini-mansion. Plus, I managed to survive on my own for quite a long time before I met you," said Reid. Luke kissed Reid hard on the mouth and reminded him that his phone number was programmed into Reid’s cell phone.

Luke left. Reid decided he was bored. So bored. It was an unusual feeling for him. Normally he was too busy working or studying to ever experience boredom. He would offer his consultation services to the other doctors at his hospital but he was worried about the threat of litigation if a patient’s family heard about his, ever-so-minimal, brain damage. Litigation?!? Huh. He must really be the Chief of Staff if he was worrying about litigation. He briefly wondered if he was a pompous windbag now. He also wondered if he’d be a pitiful loser if he were to wander over to The Lakeview to hang out.

There was a knock on the door. Thank goodness! Reid opened the door.

"Wow! What’s it like being color-blind?" asked Reid of the man standing before him.

"Har de har har," snapped the man in the bright blue suit and orange shirt. "Like I care what Mr. ‘I have ten of the same maroon-colored button down shirts’ has to say about fashion."

"That’s Dr. ‘I have ten of the same maroon-colored button down shirts,’" said Reid huffily.

"Whatever, Amnesiac," said the man. "My name is Henry. I have a bag of food so step back out of my way or I’ll leave with it."

"Please come in, Henry," said Reid while giving a courtly bow. Henry walked over to the kitchen island and started unpacking the bag of food. Reid sat on one of the stools at the kitchen island and watched Henry.

"Where’s Luke?" asked Henry.

"He’s out," said Reid.

"He left you alone?" asked a shocked Henry.

"I’m a grown-up," Reid informed Henry in affronted tones. "Didn’t really need him babysitting me when Mama Rose needed him."

"That doesn’t sound like Luke," said Henry. "I’d think he’d be wrapping you up in bubble wrap and building a safe room for you after the incident the other day."

"I practically forced him out of here," admitted Reid.

Henry shot Reid a questioning look. "Look, I know that this is none of my business but if Luke is driving you a little nuts with the hovering, you should lie, lie, lie. When you get your memory back, you’ll be upset if you managed to hurt his feelings."

Reid shrugged. "He’s not driving me nuts. I was actually being selfless by encouraging him to go off with the basket case that birthed him instead of hanging out with me."

"How is the selflessness working out for you?"

"I can look upon it as a noble yet failed experiment."

Henry grinned. "I have a quart of goulash, a quart of chicken and dumplings and quart of gumbo from my diner. Are you hungry or do you want me to put it in the fridge? It all freezes nicely so if Emma beat me here, I can put it in the freezer."

"Emma already sent Aaron and Carolyn as her culinary ambassadors so we have stuff in the fridge already," replied Reid. "We should freeze the stuff you brought. How are you related to Luke?"

Henry started putting the food away. "I’m not related to Luke. Well, one of my ex-wives was married to two of his distant cousins. Not at the same time. The Snyders are old-fashioned that way. One marriage at a time. Unless someone has amnesia. And rarely more than one marriage in any given calendar year."

"You’re not a Snyder but you brought food over?" asked Reid. He was a little worried. "Are we friends?"

If Reid was worried, then Henry was horrified. "No. No, no, no. Not friends. If we had somehow completely inadvertently managed to become friends, then we’d be super double-secret friends. The kind that would never admit it to ourselves let alone to other people."

"Gotcha."

"Reiterating the fact that we are not friends, is there anything I can do for you?" asked Henry.

"Thanks, but I’m good."

"Do you have any questions about your life that you want answered but are afraid to ask Luke because you don’t want to hurt his tender feelings?" asked Henry.

"Ha. Only if you actually have a reasonable explanation for why Luke would date that Colossus I met today."

Henry pursed his lips. He seemed at a loss for words. He walked into the butler’s pantry and came back out with a pitcher, a bottle of vodka, a bottle of vermouth, a jar of olives and a couple of martini glasses. He made a pitcher of martinis. Reid watched Henry and decided that the man’s making himself at home amused him. He decided to hold off on future rude comments. For the time being, anyway.

"Follow me," Henry said. Henry led Reid up to the rooftop terrace. They sat on a couple of lounge chairs. Henry poured each of them a martini and then placed the pitcher on the table between the lounge chairs.

"Okay, I’ve never been particularly intimate with the Snyder clan but they’re pretty well known in the town so I’m familiar with the gossip," said Henry. "To understand Luke and Noah, you have to understand Luke’s parents, Lily and Holden."

"I’ve met Lily," said Reid. "She’s a crybaby whiner and I don’t like her. At all."

"She’s not exactly the president of the Reid Oliver fan club," Henry advised Reid.

"That’s a shame because I’m pretty sure that all members of my fan club get a free Dr. Reid Oliver lunchbox."

"Guess you didn’t forget your ego. Anyway, Lily and Holden have been together off and on since they were teenagers. They’ve always managed to convince themselves, and their children, that their love is this huge, epic love story. But that has never stopped them from cheating on each other, breaking up, getting engaged or married to other people or having kids with other people. The rumor is that there was once even a restraining order."

"That’s got to be hard on their kids," Reid said with a frown.

"Luke was an alcoholic before he had a driver’s license. Faith was a bulimic with a pill habit before she had her driver’s license."

"Are Luke and Faith okay now?" asked a concerned Reid.

"Yeah," said Henry. "As far as I know, Luke hasn’t had a drink for about six years now. And Faith is just thriving. Anyway, my cheap, armchair psychology says the reason that Luke put up with Noah’s crap for so long is because he didn’t realize that love wasn’t supposed to be that painful. Or maybe he just didn’t want to emulate his parents and give up on his relationship."

"His parents are morons."

Henry shrugged. "They love their kids. They’re productive members of the community. They’re loyal to their friends and family. They pay their employees well. They just have this one area of their lives where they’re as crazy as outhouse rats."

"That one area is one that must cause a lot of pain to their kids," said Reid. Only bullies willingly caused kids pain. Reid despised bullies who thought it was okay to hurt kids.

"No matter what was going on with Lily and Holden, those kids knew they were loved," said Henry. "They also had grandmothers and aunts and uncles that loved them. Their family life wasn’t conducive to having realistic expectations about love and marriage but they could have had it a lot worse."

"Do Lily and Holden realize that Luke stayed in a idiotic relationship because of the example they set?" asked Reid.

Henry shrugged. "You and Lily are often at loggerheads because you feel she’s too needy and treats her son as her boyfriend slash father instead of her son."

"Yuck," said Reid.

Henry shrugged again. "You and Holden are much more polite in your interactions but you’re not particularly fond of him. Your most recent ‘discussion’ occurred when Holden asked Luke to come out to the farm to help him fix the tractor."

"Luke’s rich and has a time-consuming career," sneered Reid. "Why would Holden want to waste Luke’s time by having him fix a tractor."

"I think it’s some kind of father-son bonding thing," replied Henry.

Reid scrunched his nose. Henry shrugged and tried to explain. "The Snyders have all sorts of odd bonding rituals ranging from chopping wood to mutilating large gourds. I guess all families look like oddball cults to outsiders."

"Does yours?" asked Reid.

"My mother was a drunk with a gambling problem who left her eight kids to fend for themselves and one of my sisters is a serial killer."

"Damn. I’m sorry," said an appalled Reid. He always knew that no good ever came from him talking to people.

Henry finished off his martini and poured himself another. He changed the subject. "It should make you feel better that Noah isn’t really a part of your life. When he was your patient, he annoyed you because of the way he treated his boyfriend but you did your job and gave him back his eyesight. After Luke chose you over him, Noah left town to go to LA to become a highfalutin director."

"Did he succeed?"

"He moved back to Oakdale so that should tell you something," smirked Henry. "A couple of years after he left, he and Luke became casual email buddies. It didn’t threaten you because you know that Luke is completely in love with you and that his relationship with Noah never came close to being what his relationship with you is. Also, you’re a conceited bastard and can’t imagine someone choosing anyone over you. But you were annoyed when Noah moved back to town six months ago."

"Did he return in order to win back the heart of the fair Luke?" asked Reid.

"I think he came back because he was lonely and Oakdale was the closest thing he’s ever had to a home. He was an army brat and never put down roots anywhere else. I think that he’d take Luke back in a minute but he knows that isn’t going to happen."

Reid had finished off his martini and was pouring himself another. Henry started laughing. Reid shot him a questioning look.

"Shortly after Noah came back, you came into my diner for a burger. It was about 3:00 a.m. and you had just finished a surgery. You were the only one in the place when a very tipsy Noah Mayer staggered in. He proceeded to explain to you, in graphic detail, that he was Luke’s first lover. I was furious that he would talk about Luke that way and was about to insult him with the biggest words I could think of when you snorted and then gave him a piece of your mind."

"What did 2014 Reid Oliver say to him?"

"You proceeded to tell him about all of the sexual ‘firsts’ that Luke had experienced with you. Given that Luke and Noah had spent years in a loving, committed relationship, I was shocked at how many firsts you named. And not just the kinky stuff. It led me to suspect that Noah was a selfish and incompetent lover. And possibly not gay. Heck, I’ve only been with women and I’ve done more gay stuff than Noah did with Luke."

Reid eyed Henry’s Outfit of Loud Colors.

Henry gave Reid a look of exasperation. "Being straight shouldn’t be a detriment to having a stylish flair."

"And yet . . ."said Reid. "Did you ever tell Luke that I had been boasting about my sexual prowess to his silly ex-boyfriend?"

"You offered me a hundred bucks to keep my mouth shut," said Henry. "Not that I would embarrass Luke by telling him about your potty mouth."

"Did you accept the hundred bucks anyway?"

"Yep," said Henry without a shred of guilt.

Henry started telling Reid funny and horrible stories about the people of Oakdale. Somebody named ‘Bubbles’ had punched somebody named ‘Baboon Heart’ in the face in the middle of the hospital parking lot and the scrubs-clad audience ended up cheering. One of Luke’s aunts had convinced everybody, including her children, that she was dying of a brain tumor in order to win back her ex-husband who was married to somebody else. Henry’s half-brother had had a microchip implanted in his brain by his nefarious father. A freaking microchip! Henry and Reid continued drinking martinis while Henry told stories that Reid was positive were completely fictitious. And possibly indicative of Henry being kind of nuts.

After a couple of hours, Luke returned from his fearsome battle with the hotel’s ledgers. He looked victorious at having slain an embezzling dragon. He seemed amused at finding a tipsy Henry and Reid laying on lounge chairs and giggling. He sat down beside Reid and kissed him on his forehead. Reid grabbed hold of Luke’s head and gave him a big, wet kiss on the mouth.

"I’m going to go and throw the lasagna into the oven," Luke lovingly advised the sots. "Henry, since Barbara’s going to have to come and give you a ride home anyway, I’m going to invite her over for supper with us. Okay?"

"That’d be great, Luke!" exclaimed an excited Henry. "I love Barbara!"

"Yes, you do," agreed Luke.

Luke went back into the house to prepare supper and to call Barbara to invite her to dinner with him and the two drunken not-friends. By the time Reid and Henry wandered back downstairs, Barbara had arrived, the lasagna and bread were heated and iced tea had been poured into glasses.

"How in the world did Henry get a woman like you to marry him?" asked Reid upon being introduced to Barbara.

"The sex is amazing," explained Barbara. Reid glanced doubtfully at Henry. Henry grinned and nodded proudly.

The four had a leisurely supper. Barbara and Henry tried to explain away the ridiculousness of several international companies having their headquarters in the middle of nowhere. Reid tried to convince them that they were all in the Matrix and were being used as batteries for some form of Artificial Intelligence and were being subjected to a completely unrealistic simulated reality. When Henry started becoming concerned about having to choose the red pill or the blue pill, Barbara decided it was time to take Henry home.

Luke cleaned up while Reid followed him around, giving him affectionate kisses and pats. Luke laughed and told Reid that he was the cuddliest drunk ever. Luke had Reid take a couple of aspirins in the hope of bypassing a hangover. Reid tired early and Luke insisted on tucking him into bed. Reid tried to talk Luke into sleeping with him but settled for Luke telling him a bedtime story about a handsome prince who tamed a horrible auburn-haired ogre.

When Reid fell asleep, Luke kissed him on the forehead. Luke went down to one of the guestrooms and crawled into bed.

Luke was awakened by Reid crawling into bed with him.

"Hey, Luke," whispered Reid. "Scoot over."

Luke moaned and scooted over. "It’s still dark out. Go to sleep," he muttered as Reid climbed into bed with him.

"Pssst, Luke," Reid said. "Remember our wedding? Remember how Katie was my best person and wore a tux and Faith insisted on being your best person so that she could wear a tux too? And then Natalie and Ethan insisted on standing up with us too so they could wear tuxes. And we ended up flying everyone on planet Earth to Des Moines for the weekend because Lucinda insisted on inviting half the people on the planet and Damian insisted on inviting the other half. "

Luke sat up. He beamed at Reid. "You remember," he whispered.

"Yeah, I do," agreed Reid. "Remember how we chose white carnations as the flower for our wedding because we thought they were pretty but Lucinda was horrified because carnations are cheap? She threatened to cry unless we let her do whatever she wanted in regards to the flowers. She ended up choosing really expensive orchids. Remember my Uncle Angus actually crying during our ceremony? Remember how your Aunt Julie and Uncle Caleb got into a big drunken argument at the reception? Julie tried to pick up that ugly ice sculpture of ducks or whatever they were that your mom insisted on buying for our reception. Julie wanted to throw it at Caleb but she ended up knocking over the table the sculpture was on."

"Talk memories to me, baby," purred Luke. He began kissing Reid’s neck.

"Remember the first time I got to go to a Snyder family therapy session and we all wore costumes to make it more fun?" Luke growled and started giving love bites. "Ethan insisted on wearing a mummy costume but he didn’t want the bandages to be white so we ended up cutting up a sheet and he ended up being the only paisley patterned mummy in history. Faith went as the female monster in Bride of Frankenstein. Natalie taped Barbie dolls to a pair of her boots so that she could go as the character from Attack of the 50 Foot Woman."

Luke sucked on Reid’s ear and caressed his stomach.

"Mmmmm, that’s so good, I’ve missed you," groaned Reid. "Even when I didn’t remember you, I missed you. Remember how I was Quasimodo and you were Dracula? Remember how the kids were so surprised and happy that Lily and Holden both agreed to come as movie monster creatures? Remember how Holden taped a mannequin’s head to his shoulder and came as The Thing with Two Heads? Remember how your mother freaked the shrink out by coming as the Bride of Dracula?"

Luke sat up indignantly. "She was a random female vampire. She wasn’t specifically the spouse of Dracula."

Reid laughed. "Oedipus, please! Your mother came to the therapy session dressed up as her son’s bride."

Reid continued to laugh while Luke pummeled him with a pillow.

Luke stopped pummeling his husband. "Reid?"

"Yeah?" asked Reid as he toppled Luke over and straddled him.

Luke hesitated. "Never mind. Take me, my memory-having husband."

Reid kissed Luke gently. He caressed his face. He knew what Luke was worried about. "The second or third time I laid eyes on you."

Luke tried to avoid eye contact with Reid who wasn’t about to let that happen.

Luke sighed. "I’m sorry that it took me so long to stop being afraid of what we could be. We could have started so much sooner than we did but I was a coward and tried to play it safe by holding onto Noah for too long."

"I don’t blame you, Luke," Reid said gently. "I was a couple of steps ahead of you but you caught up to me. It’s all good."

"I could have-"

"Luke, you had spent years being in love with Noah. Of course, you didn’t have feelings for me as quickly as I had them for you. I was free to fall in love with you. You weren’t free at the time. What matters is that we did eventually end up together."

"If it helps, I started having sexual feelings for you even before you kissed me in Dallas," Luke confessed shyly.

"I know," Reid smirked. "The first time you were consciously physically attracted to me was in your mom’s house during our shoving match after my confrontation with Mr. Judd."

Reid was amused to see Luke blush. "I still think that all the shoving we did was foreplay but that you weren’t willing to be aware of our attraction until after you and Noah were officially broke up."

"I’m so lucky that you were courageous enough to make a move on me," said Luke.

"Do you want to hear a confession?" asked Reid.

"Yes, please," said a smiling Luke.

"In Dallas, I realized that you hadn’t told Noah that you were with me. I let him know that I wasn’t in Dallas alone because I wanted to shove it in his face that you were with me. That you were helping me. That I was accepting your help and was grateful for it. Unlike him. I wanted him to realize that something was happening between you and me. I think I wanted some sort of confrontation in order to get things moving."

Reid tried not to look embarrassed at his confession.

Luke laughed. "Your one attempt at being a Machiavellian game-player and it didn’t even work. Noah didn’t think it was strange that I was helping you because he thought it was all about him."

"He didn’t even suspect anything when you were at my home and answered my phone," said a disgruntled Reid.

"Reid, maybe we can talk about Noah some other time," suggested Luke as he carded the fingers of one hand through Reid’s hair and tugged.

"I’m willing to skip any future talk about Noah but we are going to have a discussion about you not performing your husbandly duties just because I had a little bit of brain damage."

"Later, though," said Luke as he flipped Reid onto his back.

"Later," agreed Reid.