Amnesia and Realizations. And Maple-Glazed Turkey. Chapter 1
TItle: Amnesia and Realizations. And Maple-Glazed Turkey
Author: nancygrew
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Characters belong to ATWT
Notes: Takes place late November 2015. Reid made it back from his stupid errand to Bay City. You do not have to read my other fic in order to understand this one. Originally written for the Noah_Who site but I'm including it over here so I can play with tagging it.
Summary: Noah wakes up in Oakdale Memorial Hospital
Noah woke up in a hospital room. His head was throbbing. The throbbing seemed to be set to a disco beat. Great, a concussion that thought his head was Studio 54. Not that Noah listened to disco. Not that he would admit anyway. Although he had never understood why Adrian Zmed was considered to be a less talented host of Dance Fever than Deney Terio. From all of the clips he had watched on UsTube, he had thought it obvious that Adrian was a much better dancer than Deney. Plus, Adrian had the most glorious hair that any dance-show host ever sported including Andy Gibb of Solid Gold.
A brunette nurse was placing a water pitcher on Noah’s bedside. She smiled gently at Noah.
"It’s nice to see you awake, Mr. Mayer," she exclaimed happily. "How are you feeling?"
"My head hurts," Noah replied. He looked around for Luke. "Have you seen my boyfriend?"
"Not that I know of. You were just brought in about an hour ago," answered the nurse. "But I can look for him in the hallway and waiting room when I go get your doctor to let her know that you’re awake. What’s your boyfriend’s name and what does he look like?"
"His name is Luke Snyder," answered Noah. "He has blond hair and big brown eyes. He has beautiful eyes."
The nurse, whose nametag read Gretchen Weinen, suddenly looked panicked. Noah had the thought that nurses should never look panicked. It made patients feel less than confident in their abilities. Someone really should lecture the woman about keeping her emotions in check. Noah assumed that the nurse was bothered by the fact that he was gay. Truth be told, he wasn’t always comfortable with the fact that he was gay. He supposed that given his headache, this wasn’t the best time for self-reflection. The nurse scurried out of the room after hurriedly exclaiming that she was going to get his doctor.
Approximately ten minutes later, a pretty, older woman entered the room.
"Good morning," said the woman. "I’m Dr. Karen Haines. I’m a neurosurgeon here at Oakdale Memorial. How are you feeling?"
"My head hurts," Noah complained. Complained in a manly and stoic, not at all gay, manner. "What happened to me?"
"You disregarded every work safety video ever made and were trying to get something off of a shelf at work by standing on a wheeled chair. You fell and hit your head," answered Dr. Haines. She pulled a pen light out of her lab coat and studied Noah’s eyes. She nodded as though satisfied by whatever she had managed to see while examining his eyes. Maybe she had somehow managed to see the artistic nature of his soul. "I need to ask you a few questions in order to figure out how you’re doing. Can you tell me your name?"
"I’m Noah Mayer."
"Can you tell me the date?" asked Dr. Haines.
"It’s December 8th. Stardate 2008," Noah huffed a laugh. Stardate. Ha!
Dr. Haines gave Noah a sympathetic look. Frankly, it made Noah feel a little leery.
"The brain is an amazing, complicated organ," pronounced Dr. Haines as she patted Noah on the knee. "Sometimes, head injuries cause memories to become fuzzy or to be lost. The great thing is that after a head injury, memory loss is rarely indicative of serious brain injury."
"Are you saying that I have amnesia?" asked Noah nervously.
"Seems like it. But there’s no need to worry. Everyone here at Oakdale Memorial is going to take excellent care of you. We’re going to start off with a few tests so that we have a better idea of what exactly is going on in that head of yours."
"Well, good luck with that. Even prior to my accident, I didn’t always know what was going on in my own head. It’s very mysterious and complicated in there," Noah said self-depreciatingly in an attempt to be brave and nonchalant about the horror of having amnesia. Dr. Haines smiled at Noah.
"What’s the current date?" Noah asked. "Have I lost a lot of time?"
"It’s November 24th, 2015," replied Dr. Haines. "It’s the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. It’s perfectly natural for you to feel nervous about not remembering the last seven years but I want you to know that Oakdale Memorial has an excellent medical staff and we have more experience with amnesia than most hospitals on the planet. Combined. In fact, Oakdale Memorial has made amazing strides in amnesia research over the years due to the large number of available case studies. There’s a conspiracy website that has named Oakdale as the Bermuda Triangle of Memory Loss. Of course, it’s the same website that claims that the Grimaldi family are Reptilians, an alien race that are body-morphing, blood drinking lizards that are plotting to take over Earth."
"Can you have someone call my boyfriend to let him know that I’m here?" asked Noah. "His name is Luke Snyder and I can give you his phone number."
"I can have Gretchen call Luke," replied Dr. Haines while seemingly trying to avoid eye contact with Noah. Noah wondered if Dr. Haines had a problem with gay people. It’s not like Noah acted gay. "You don’t have to give me Luke’s phone number because I already have it. Mr. Mayer, we take doctor-patient confidentiality very seriously here. May I have your permission to fill in my Chief of Staff in on your medical condition even though he won’t be treating you himself? Dr. Oliver is a widely respected neurosurgeon and I would value his opinion on your case."
"Sure," said Noah. "I don’t mind you telling Dr. Oliver about my case. What happened to Dr. Bob?"
"Dr. Hughes retired about five years ago. Dr. Oliver is his hand-picked successor. But Dr. Hughes comes in for weekly visits. He has lunch with Dr. Oliver every Wednesday to check up on the hospital and to offer what Dr. Oliver considers to be back-seat-chief-of-staffing. I think Dr. Hughes just enjoys making Dr. Oliver grumble."
"I’m sure Dr. Bob must be enjoying retirement. Why do you have Luke’s phone number?"
"Luke is a colleague and a friend," answered Dr. Haines.
"How is Luke a colleague of yours?" asked a confused Noah. "There’s no way he went to medical school. Science isn’t exactly Luke’s strong suit."
"He’s a member of the Hospital Board and has been very involved in fundraising for us," answered Dr. Haines.
"Luke must have really changed a lot in seven years if he’s ambitious enough for something like that," replied Noah. Noah watched as Dr. Haines’ face became still and emotionless.
"We’re very fortunate that Luke has been such an active participant on our Board," Dr. Haines said ever so politely. "Not only has he been instrumental in raising funds to turn Oakdale Memorial into a cutting-edge, technology-rich hospital but his ultimate concern is always the well-being of our patients. He doesn’t hesitate to get his hands dirty when it comes to researching protocols and equipment or interviewing architects or lobbying the zoning commission."
Noah felt like Dr. Haines had just ‘schooled’ him. Or perhaps it was ‘pwnd’ him. He wasn’t really sure what the kids [or neurosurgeons] were saying these days. As a naturally introverted person who had moved around a lot while growing up as an "army brat", he had never had a clue what slang the kids [or neurosurgeons] were using even before he had developed amnesia.
Noah tried to explain his remarks to Dr. Haines. "It’s just that the Luke Snyder I remember wasn’t exactly . . . enterprising."
Dr. Haines tilted her head. "Not many people would have been ‘enterprising’ enough to give a fortune away when they were merely a teenager in order to affect change to make the world a better place by helping people gain access to needed medical care or fighting discrimination of all forms. Most people, myself included, would have taken those millions and millions of dollars and partied like former Disney stars run amok."
Noah was embarrassed at being lectured. He always worked hard at not disappointing people. That was one of the increasingly rare nice things about dating Luke; Noah never felt like he had to work hard for Luke’s approval. "You’re right. I didn’t have the intention of insulting Luke. I have always been very proud of Luke."
Dr. Haines nodded at him. "I’m going to go check on the availability of the Imaging Department and we’ll start on your tests as soon as possible.
Dr. Haines exited the room. She returned about fifteen minutes later followed by a scowling, auburn-haired doctor in his late thirties.
"Do you have any idea how rare amnesia is?" asked the scowling doctor.
Noah was thrown by the man’s rudeness. It’s not like he had planned on getting amnesia when he woke up this morning. Not that he could remember anyway. He could feel himself grow angry and defensive.
"It must not be all that rare," Noah muttered truculently. "One time I was having a pizza night with friends and we got to talking about amnesia. My friend Alison’s great-grandfather, David Stewart, once suffered from amnesia. And my friend Casey’s great-aunt Penny, grandmother Lisa, and step-grandmother Kim all had amnesia at different times. And my boyfriend Luke’s cousin-once-removed Jack, cousin Lucy and dad all had amnesia at different times. His dad’s amnesia was supposed to be permanent but--"
"Your boyfriend?" sneered the doctor.
"Do you have a problem with me being gay?" demanded Noah angrily. Sometimes Noah felt that his life would have been so much easier if he had stayed in the closet. He could have been happy with Maddie. The brief time they had spent together had been wonderful until Luke had made everything so painfully complicated.
"Not at all," replied the man. "I’m all for hot, sweaty man-on-man action. Go Team Rainbow! You do realize that Dr. Haines is going to be running some incredibly expensive medical tests and she’ll be able to tell if you’re faking, right? You better not be wasting her valuable time when she has patients that really do need her."
"What’s your problem?" Noah snarled.
The man looked as though he was about to give Noah a long list enumerating his problems, beginning with Noah’s existence, when Dr. Haines placed her arm upon the man’s arm.
"Dr. Oliver, Mr. Mayer is my patient," Dr. Haines said firmly. "I’m going to run some tests on him now. Why don’t you go and do some Chief of Staffing." Dr. Oliver glared at Dr. Haines who glared right back at him. Noah wondered if neurosurgeons ever engaged in barbed wire steel cage death matches. ‘Oakdale Memorial Hospital Thunderdome: Two neurosurgeons enter, one neurosurgeon leaves.’
Dr. Oliver huffed and left the room.
"Well, that was bracing," said Dr. Haines heartily. "Gretchen is calling Luke now. I’m going to roll you down to Imaging myself so we can get started on this little medical mystery of ours."
There must have been a reason for the doctor to be so emotional with Noah. He realized what the problem might be. "Is Dr. Oliver my boyfriend?"
Dr. Haines laughed until she was gasping for air. Noah thought that maybe she thought the age difference between Noah and Dr. Oliver was big enough to make the idea of them dating funny. "Nope. Let’s wheel you down to Imaging."
Dr. Haines took Noah down to Imaging and they ran tests. He noticed that several hospital employees watched him with wide-eyes as he was wheeled back to his room after the tests. He wasn’t sure why everyone seemed so interested in him. It was probably his connection to the Snyders. They were well known in Oakdale. The best thing about dating Luke was being considered an honorary Snyder. He loved being part of a real family.
Noah looked over his shoulder at the orderly who was wheeling his chair back to his room. "Do you know if Alison Stewart is working today?"
"Wow. Name from the past, man. Alison Stewart moved to New Zealand with Dr. Chris Hughes a few years ago. I heard that they became Luddite hippies and are living in a free-love commune now. But I also heard that they were part of some sort of anti-government, computer terrorism cell. So who knows what’s true."
Noah was disappointed that Alison wasn’t still working at Oakdale Memorial. He could have used someone to talk to that wasn’t Luke. Luke always seemed to make everything all about him. Luke never seemed to understand that Noah valued his independence and didn’t want to be an appendage to Luke and Luke’s Emotion Follies.
About a half an hour after the orderly had taken Noah back to his room, Dr. Haines came to see Noah. She advised him about the location and type of swelling in his brain caused by his fall and that it most likely indicated that his amnesia was going to be of a short duration. She prescribed him medication that would help accelerate his healing. She let him know that she wanted to keep him for observation for a few more hours but then she’d let him go as long as he agreed to come in every few days for a check up until he regained his memory.
Chapter Two
Author: nancygrew
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Characters belong to ATWT
Notes: Takes place late November 2015. Reid made it back from his stupid errand to Bay City. You do not have to read my other fic in order to understand this one. Originally written for the Noah_Who site but I'm including it over here so I can play with tagging it.
Summary: Noah wakes up in Oakdale Memorial Hospital
Noah woke up in a hospital room. His head was throbbing. The throbbing seemed to be set to a disco beat. Great, a concussion that thought his head was Studio 54. Not that Noah listened to disco. Not that he would admit anyway. Although he had never understood why Adrian Zmed was considered to be a less talented host of Dance Fever than Deney Terio. From all of the clips he had watched on UsTube, he had thought it obvious that Adrian was a much better dancer than Deney. Plus, Adrian had the most glorious hair that any dance-show host ever sported including Andy Gibb of Solid Gold.
A brunette nurse was placing a water pitcher on Noah’s bedside. She smiled gently at Noah.
"It’s nice to see you awake, Mr. Mayer," she exclaimed happily. "How are you feeling?"
"My head hurts," Noah replied. He looked around for Luke. "Have you seen my boyfriend?"
"Not that I know of. You were just brought in about an hour ago," answered the nurse. "But I can look for him in the hallway and waiting room when I go get your doctor to let her know that you’re awake. What’s your boyfriend’s name and what does he look like?"
"His name is Luke Snyder," answered Noah. "He has blond hair and big brown eyes. He has beautiful eyes."
The nurse, whose nametag read Gretchen Weinen, suddenly looked panicked. Noah had the thought that nurses should never look panicked. It made patients feel less than confident in their abilities. Someone really should lecture the woman about keeping her emotions in check. Noah assumed that the nurse was bothered by the fact that he was gay. Truth be told, he wasn’t always comfortable with the fact that he was gay. He supposed that given his headache, this wasn’t the best time for self-reflection. The nurse scurried out of the room after hurriedly exclaiming that she was going to get his doctor.
Approximately ten minutes later, a pretty, older woman entered the room.
"Good morning," said the woman. "I’m Dr. Karen Haines. I’m a neurosurgeon here at Oakdale Memorial. How are you feeling?"
"My head hurts," Noah complained. Complained in a manly and stoic, not at all gay, manner. "What happened to me?"
"You disregarded every work safety video ever made and were trying to get something off of a shelf at work by standing on a wheeled chair. You fell and hit your head," answered Dr. Haines. She pulled a pen light out of her lab coat and studied Noah’s eyes. She nodded as though satisfied by whatever she had managed to see while examining his eyes. Maybe she had somehow managed to see the artistic nature of his soul. "I need to ask you a few questions in order to figure out how you’re doing. Can you tell me your name?"
"I’m Noah Mayer."
"Can you tell me the date?" asked Dr. Haines.
"It’s December 8th. Stardate 2008," Noah huffed a laugh. Stardate. Ha!
Dr. Haines gave Noah a sympathetic look. Frankly, it made Noah feel a little leery.
"The brain is an amazing, complicated organ," pronounced Dr. Haines as she patted Noah on the knee. "Sometimes, head injuries cause memories to become fuzzy or to be lost. The great thing is that after a head injury, memory loss is rarely indicative of serious brain injury."
"Are you saying that I have amnesia?" asked Noah nervously.
"Seems like it. But there’s no need to worry. Everyone here at Oakdale Memorial is going to take excellent care of you. We’re going to start off with a few tests so that we have a better idea of what exactly is going on in that head of yours."
"Well, good luck with that. Even prior to my accident, I didn’t always know what was going on in my own head. It’s very mysterious and complicated in there," Noah said self-depreciatingly in an attempt to be brave and nonchalant about the horror of having amnesia. Dr. Haines smiled at Noah.
"What’s the current date?" Noah asked. "Have I lost a lot of time?"
"It’s November 24th, 2015," replied Dr. Haines. "It’s the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. It’s perfectly natural for you to feel nervous about not remembering the last seven years but I want you to know that Oakdale Memorial has an excellent medical staff and we have more experience with amnesia than most hospitals on the planet. Combined. In fact, Oakdale Memorial has made amazing strides in amnesia research over the years due to the large number of available case studies. There’s a conspiracy website that has named Oakdale as the Bermuda Triangle of Memory Loss. Of course, it’s the same website that claims that the Grimaldi family are Reptilians, an alien race that are body-morphing, blood drinking lizards that are plotting to take over Earth."
"Can you have someone call my boyfriend to let him know that I’m here?" asked Noah. "His name is Luke Snyder and I can give you his phone number."
"I can have Gretchen call Luke," replied Dr. Haines while seemingly trying to avoid eye contact with Noah. Noah wondered if Dr. Haines had a problem with gay people. It’s not like Noah acted gay. "You don’t have to give me Luke’s phone number because I already have it. Mr. Mayer, we take doctor-patient confidentiality very seriously here. May I have your permission to fill in my Chief of Staff in on your medical condition even though he won’t be treating you himself? Dr. Oliver is a widely respected neurosurgeon and I would value his opinion on your case."
"Sure," said Noah. "I don’t mind you telling Dr. Oliver about my case. What happened to Dr. Bob?"
"Dr. Hughes retired about five years ago. Dr. Oliver is his hand-picked successor. But Dr. Hughes comes in for weekly visits. He has lunch with Dr. Oliver every Wednesday to check up on the hospital and to offer what Dr. Oliver considers to be back-seat-chief-of-staffing. I think Dr. Hughes just enjoys making Dr. Oliver grumble."
"I’m sure Dr. Bob must be enjoying retirement. Why do you have Luke’s phone number?"
"Luke is a colleague and a friend," answered Dr. Haines.
"How is Luke a colleague of yours?" asked a confused Noah. "There’s no way he went to medical school. Science isn’t exactly Luke’s strong suit."
"He’s a member of the Hospital Board and has been very involved in fundraising for us," answered Dr. Haines.
"Luke must have really changed a lot in seven years if he’s ambitious enough for something like that," replied Noah. Noah watched as Dr. Haines’ face became still and emotionless.
"We’re very fortunate that Luke has been such an active participant on our Board," Dr. Haines said ever so politely. "Not only has he been instrumental in raising funds to turn Oakdale Memorial into a cutting-edge, technology-rich hospital but his ultimate concern is always the well-being of our patients. He doesn’t hesitate to get his hands dirty when it comes to researching protocols and equipment or interviewing architects or lobbying the zoning commission."
Noah felt like Dr. Haines had just ‘schooled’ him. Or perhaps it was ‘pwnd’ him. He wasn’t really sure what the kids [or neurosurgeons] were saying these days. As a naturally introverted person who had moved around a lot while growing up as an "army brat", he had never had a clue what slang the kids [or neurosurgeons] were using even before he had developed amnesia.
Noah tried to explain his remarks to Dr. Haines. "It’s just that the Luke Snyder I remember wasn’t exactly . . . enterprising."
Dr. Haines tilted her head. "Not many people would have been ‘enterprising’ enough to give a fortune away when they were merely a teenager in order to affect change to make the world a better place by helping people gain access to needed medical care or fighting discrimination of all forms. Most people, myself included, would have taken those millions and millions of dollars and partied like former Disney stars run amok."
Noah was embarrassed at being lectured. He always worked hard at not disappointing people. That was one of the increasingly rare nice things about dating Luke; Noah never felt like he had to work hard for Luke’s approval. "You’re right. I didn’t have the intention of insulting Luke. I have always been very proud of Luke."
Dr. Haines nodded at him. "I’m going to go check on the availability of the Imaging Department and we’ll start on your tests as soon as possible.
Dr. Haines exited the room. She returned about fifteen minutes later followed by a scowling, auburn-haired doctor in his late thirties.
"Do you have any idea how rare amnesia is?" asked the scowling doctor.
Noah was thrown by the man’s rudeness. It’s not like he had planned on getting amnesia when he woke up this morning. Not that he could remember anyway. He could feel himself grow angry and defensive.
"It must not be all that rare," Noah muttered truculently. "One time I was having a pizza night with friends and we got to talking about amnesia. My friend Alison’s great-grandfather, David Stewart, once suffered from amnesia. And my friend Casey’s great-aunt Penny, grandmother Lisa, and step-grandmother Kim all had amnesia at different times. And my boyfriend Luke’s cousin-once-removed Jack, cousin Lucy and dad all had amnesia at different times. His dad’s amnesia was supposed to be permanent but--"
"Your boyfriend?" sneered the doctor.
"Do you have a problem with me being gay?" demanded Noah angrily. Sometimes Noah felt that his life would have been so much easier if he had stayed in the closet. He could have been happy with Maddie. The brief time they had spent together had been wonderful until Luke had made everything so painfully complicated.
"Not at all," replied the man. "I’m all for hot, sweaty man-on-man action. Go Team Rainbow! You do realize that Dr. Haines is going to be running some incredibly expensive medical tests and she’ll be able to tell if you’re faking, right? You better not be wasting her valuable time when she has patients that really do need her."
"What’s your problem?" Noah snarled.
The man looked as though he was about to give Noah a long list enumerating his problems, beginning with Noah’s existence, when Dr. Haines placed her arm upon the man’s arm.
"Dr. Oliver, Mr. Mayer is my patient," Dr. Haines said firmly. "I’m going to run some tests on him now. Why don’t you go and do some Chief of Staffing." Dr. Oliver glared at Dr. Haines who glared right back at him. Noah wondered if neurosurgeons ever engaged in barbed wire steel cage death matches. ‘Oakdale Memorial Hospital Thunderdome: Two neurosurgeons enter, one neurosurgeon leaves.’
Dr. Oliver huffed and left the room.
"Well, that was bracing," said Dr. Haines heartily. "Gretchen is calling Luke now. I’m going to roll you down to Imaging myself so we can get started on this little medical mystery of ours."
There must have been a reason for the doctor to be so emotional with Noah. He realized what the problem might be. "Is Dr. Oliver my boyfriend?"
Dr. Haines laughed until she was gasping for air. Noah thought that maybe she thought the age difference between Noah and Dr. Oliver was big enough to make the idea of them dating funny. "Nope. Let’s wheel you down to Imaging."
Dr. Haines took Noah down to Imaging and they ran tests. He noticed that several hospital employees watched him with wide-eyes as he was wheeled back to his room after the tests. He wasn’t sure why everyone seemed so interested in him. It was probably his connection to the Snyders. They were well known in Oakdale. The best thing about dating Luke was being considered an honorary Snyder. He loved being part of a real family.
Noah looked over his shoulder at the orderly who was wheeling his chair back to his room. "Do you know if Alison Stewart is working today?"
"Wow. Name from the past, man. Alison Stewart moved to New Zealand with Dr. Chris Hughes a few years ago. I heard that they became Luddite hippies and are living in a free-love commune now. But I also heard that they were part of some sort of anti-government, computer terrorism cell. So who knows what’s true."
Noah was disappointed that Alison wasn’t still working at Oakdale Memorial. He could have used someone to talk to that wasn’t Luke. Luke always seemed to make everything all about him. Luke never seemed to understand that Noah valued his independence and didn’t want to be an appendage to Luke and Luke’s Emotion Follies.
About a half an hour after the orderly had taken Noah back to his room, Dr. Haines came to see Noah. She advised him about the location and type of swelling in his brain caused by his fall and that it most likely indicated that his amnesia was going to be of a short duration. She prescribed him medication that would help accelerate his healing. She let him know that she wanted to keep him for observation for a few more hours but then she’d let him go as long as he agreed to come in every few days for a check up until he regained his memory.
Chapter Two