Lily Wakes Up and Smells the Noah
Title: Lily Wakes Up and Smells the Noah
Author: nancygrew
Rating: G
Author's Notes: Takes place mid-September 2012 shortly after my fic The Fundraiser. You do not have to read any of my other fics in order to undertand this one.
Warning: Brief mention of attempted murder and PTSD.
Disclaimer: Characters belong to ATWT
Summary: Lily goes to LA on a mission
Lily Walsh nervously knocked on the apartment door in front of her. Some of the peeling paint flecks fell to the floor. She smiled as her former adopted son, Noah Mayer, opened the door. She pulled him into the hallway and clasped him tightly in a hug before he had a chance to do more than to gasp in surprise.
“Sweetie,” exclaimed Lily. “I’m so happy to see you. I hope it’s okay that I just dropped by.”
“Um, yeah. It’s fine,” said Noah as he pulled back and ran his hand through his hair. He looked behind him into the apartment and sighed. He then pasted a smile onto his face and asked Lily to come inside. It was a tiny apartment with well-worn and mismatched furniture. But it was ruthlessly neat.
“Mason,” called Noah. “We have company.”
“Have you managed to make a friend by some miracle?” came the sarcastic reply from another room. “You know that the Jehovah’s witnesses that come to the door don’t really care about your artistic vision.”
Noah rolled his eyes. “Can I get you something to drink, Lily?”
“Actually, I’m hoping to take you out to dinner,” said Lily. She was hoping to get Noah alone so that she could work out a plan with him to get her son Luke away from his absolutely horrible husband. She had recently made one tiny little mistake with Luke and he was refusing to speak with her. When she had gone to her son-in-law’s office to ask for his assistance in getting back into her son’s good graces, he had willfully refused to help her. He’d told her that he was, as always, on Luke’s side and would stand behind any decision that Luke made regarding his relationship with his mother. He’d also told her that the dress she was wearing would be perfect for a really high-class call girl.
Noah’s boyfriend, and former professor, stumbled out of the other room. He was carrying an empty glass. “Dinner? You buying?”
“Mason,” hissed Noah.
“It’s not like your wages at the local coffee shop ever lead to dinner out,” slurred Mason.
“And your wages as a professor at the community college aren’t exactly keeping us in caviar and Perrier,” spat Noah.
Lily shifted uncomfortably. She was surprised to hear the couple fight right in front of her. But it did firm up her resolve to reunite Luke and Noah. Noah and Luke had never fought about money. A reconciliation between Luke and Noah would be the best thing for both of them. And for Lily.
Noah turned back towards Lily. “I’m surprised you managed to find my address.”
“Oh, I had one of Mother’s private detectives find your address after I found out that you were no longer living in the bungalow in Hermosa Beach.”
Noah glared at Mason. “Well, the bungalow was expensive and money’s kind of tight right now. Everything in Hollywood is about who you know instead of talent. And it turns out that Mason doesn’t really know as many people as he leads his impressionable students to think.”
“Thankfully you’re Mr. Independent-I-Need-My-Space-Don’t-Fence-Me-In,” said Mason. “’Cause otherwise you might regret ruining your chances with Sugar Daddy Luke.”
“Excuse me?” said an angry Lily.
“Mason doesn’t mean to insult Luke,” said Noah as Mason looked unrepentant. “It’s just that Mason knows all about how Dr. Oliver used Luke to buy him a neurology wing and to buy him his position as the Chief of Staff.
Lily wasn’t Reid’s biggest fan. Or a fan at all, really. But she knew that Reid was a brilliant man who had earned his place at Memorial. And he and Luke had worked long and hard together to bring the neurowing into reality. There was no way of knowing how many lives the neurowing had saved and would save in the future. The Bradley Snyder Pavilion was really a testament to both Luke and Reid. She almost defended Reid’s character before she realized that it didn’t matter. It’s not as though she was trying to get Noah and Reid together.
Lily gave Mason a practiced smile. “I’m sure you’d be incredibly bored while Noah and I catch up. Why don’t we bring you something back to eat?”
Mason eyed Lily in amusement. “What? And miss the chance to hear all about Luke? No way. Any day that passes without the mention of Luke Snyder is lacking in sunshine and joy for me. Fortunately for me, there’s rarely a day that goes by where I don’t hear the name of Luke Snyder.”
“Luke may have been far from perfect,” spat Noah. “But he always put my needs ahead of his own. Unlike some people.”
“Yeah,” said Mason with faux sympathy. “It must have been swell dating the Sainted Luke Snyder. Tell me the story again about the time you married a woman and he got all pissy about it. That ungrateful bastard.”
An agitated Lily patted her hair. She recalled an argument that had occurred about a year ago in the kitchen at the Snyder farmhouse. Emma Snyder had brought out some photographs of Noah and Ameera’s wedding ceremony. She had sighed over how lovely the ceremony had been. Reid had rudely told Emma that she was as insane as her daughter, NutMeg Snyder, if she had fond memories of the time that Noah had broken Luke’s heart by participating in that farce of a ceremony. He said that Luke deserved better than his family treating his heartbreak as inconsequential. As far as Lily had known, it had been the only time Reid had ever been rude to Emma. For some reason, Emma had never been able to see how completely wrong Reid was for Luke. Instead of slapping Reid in his face, Emma had looked at Luke who had been sitting silently at the table. She looked like she had been hit by a two-by-four. Not an uncommon occurrence with people who had dealt with Reid. Then she had profusely apologized to Luke for having participated in something that had caused him so much pain.
“Let’s go eat,” said Noah in a falsely jovial manner.
After a heated, and vicious, argument about where to eat, Lily drove the three of them to the restaurant that Noah selected.
“Like you care where we eat as long as there’s booze enough to keep you numb,” Noah said to Mason.
During the drive to the restaurant, Mason and Noah argued. They argued about which of them was the most selfish. They argued about whether the other one was unfaithful. They argued about which of them had used the last of the milk. Lily decided that it was imperative to save Noah from such an emotionally abusive relationship.
Once they had been seated at the restaurant, Mason had ordered a double scotch. Noah had tsked.
Lily coughed delicately. “I wasn’t sure how to bring this up but I think you have the right to know that your father recently contacted Luke from prison.”
“I didn’t know that,” said Noah.
“He letter was filled with vile threats,” said Lily.
“My father has done a lot of horrible things,” said Noah. “But he’s safely behind bars. I hope Luke doesn’t overreact to it. Luke always goes overboard about stuff. I’ll never forget the time he ruined everything by calling the cops on my dad. It was really heartbreaking for me when I thought my dad was dead, you know.”
Lily scratched her ear. When Luke had gotten the letter, it had been Reid who had reacted. He raised a huge fuss with the prison authorities and threatened a lawsuit over their carelessly permitting convicted felons to make death threats to people. The authorities had been so cowed by Reid’s fury [and polysyllabic words] that they had transferred Winston Mayer to one of the most secure maximum-security prisons in the country. When Holden had tried to calm Reid down, Reid had viciously lit into Holden for treating the threat as unimportant. He reminded Holden that Winston had tried to kill Luke multiple times and had escaped prison previously. He had told Holden about the nightmares that Luke used to have when he had been paralyzed. Nightmares about hearing his family’s screams and being helpless to stop Winston from murdering everyone that he loved. Nightmares about Luke dragging his partially paralyzed body along the floors, room to room, discovering each member of his family’s mutilated corpse. Holden had been horrified by the idea of Luke having suffered such nightmares. Reid had called Holden an idiot for not considering that his teenage son might possibly have suffered from PTSD over his attempted murder. Holden had called his cousin, Jack Snyder. Jack had called a former contact in the FBI. Lily was pretty sure that Winston was going to spend the rest of his life in solitary confinement in a windowless cell.
“Oh, Luke hasn’t kicked up a fuss,” said Lily. She decided that she didn’t really want to get sidetracked by a discussion of the monstrous Winston Mayer.
Mason downed the last of his drink. He raised a hand and called out, “Garcon, I’d like another scotch!” It was probably the first time that any of the waiters in the Thai restaurant had been called ‘garcon.’
“If I wanted to be with a drunk, I would have stayed with Luke,” sneered Noah.
Lily gasped. She couldn’t believe that Noah had brought up Luke’s drinking so cavalierly. And to an outsider!
“Drinking’s the only thing that makes your self-righteousness bearable, sweetheart,” said Mason while raising his glass in a toast.
“Maybe I wouldn’t have to be so self-righteous if I didn’t pick men who had so many faults,” replied Noah.
Lily leaned back in her chair in shock. Luke was her precious baby and he did NOT have any faults. Perhaps Luke was just a smidgen emotional and impulsive. But he was the finest man she knew. He cared about people. He was smart and capable. And Reid understood all that about Luke. Reid might be rude and sarcastic but he had never treated Luke like Luke wasn’t someone to be ridiculously proud of. Reid valued Luke’s opinions, his strength, his humor. He valued Luke. Dr. Reid Oliver loved Luke. Really loved.
Suddenly, Lily came to the realization that sometimes people really do have epiphanies. The incredibly imperfect Reid was perfect for Luke. Crap.
Author: nancygrew
Rating: G
Author's Notes: Takes place mid-September 2012 shortly after my fic The Fundraiser. You do not have to read any of my other fics in order to undertand this one.
Warning: Brief mention of attempted murder and PTSD.
Disclaimer: Characters belong to ATWT
Summary: Lily goes to LA on a mission
Lily Walsh nervously knocked on the apartment door in front of her. Some of the peeling paint flecks fell to the floor. She smiled as her former adopted son, Noah Mayer, opened the door. She pulled him into the hallway and clasped him tightly in a hug before he had a chance to do more than to gasp in surprise.
“Sweetie,” exclaimed Lily. “I’m so happy to see you. I hope it’s okay that I just dropped by.”
“Um, yeah. It’s fine,” said Noah as he pulled back and ran his hand through his hair. He looked behind him into the apartment and sighed. He then pasted a smile onto his face and asked Lily to come inside. It was a tiny apartment with well-worn and mismatched furniture. But it was ruthlessly neat.
“Mason,” called Noah. “We have company.”
“Have you managed to make a friend by some miracle?” came the sarcastic reply from another room. “You know that the Jehovah’s witnesses that come to the door don’t really care about your artistic vision.”
Noah rolled his eyes. “Can I get you something to drink, Lily?”
“Actually, I’m hoping to take you out to dinner,” said Lily. She was hoping to get Noah alone so that she could work out a plan with him to get her son Luke away from his absolutely horrible husband. She had recently made one tiny little mistake with Luke and he was refusing to speak with her. When she had gone to her son-in-law’s office to ask for his assistance in getting back into her son’s good graces, he had willfully refused to help her. He’d told her that he was, as always, on Luke’s side and would stand behind any decision that Luke made regarding his relationship with his mother. He’d also told her that the dress she was wearing would be perfect for a really high-class call girl.
Noah’s boyfriend, and former professor, stumbled out of the other room. He was carrying an empty glass. “Dinner? You buying?”
“Mason,” hissed Noah.
“It’s not like your wages at the local coffee shop ever lead to dinner out,” slurred Mason.
“And your wages as a professor at the community college aren’t exactly keeping us in caviar and Perrier,” spat Noah.
Lily shifted uncomfortably. She was surprised to hear the couple fight right in front of her. But it did firm up her resolve to reunite Luke and Noah. Noah and Luke had never fought about money. A reconciliation between Luke and Noah would be the best thing for both of them. And for Lily.
Noah turned back towards Lily. “I’m surprised you managed to find my address.”
“Oh, I had one of Mother’s private detectives find your address after I found out that you were no longer living in the bungalow in Hermosa Beach.”
Noah glared at Mason. “Well, the bungalow was expensive and money’s kind of tight right now. Everything in Hollywood is about who you know instead of talent. And it turns out that Mason doesn’t really know as many people as he leads his impressionable students to think.”
“Thankfully you’re Mr. Independent-I-Need-My-Space-Don’t-Fence-Me-In,” said Mason. “’Cause otherwise you might regret ruining your chances with Sugar Daddy Luke.”
“Excuse me?” said an angry Lily.
“Mason doesn’t mean to insult Luke,” said Noah as Mason looked unrepentant. “It’s just that Mason knows all about how Dr. Oliver used Luke to buy him a neurology wing and to buy him his position as the Chief of Staff.
Lily wasn’t Reid’s biggest fan. Or a fan at all, really. But she knew that Reid was a brilliant man who had earned his place at Memorial. And he and Luke had worked long and hard together to bring the neurowing into reality. There was no way of knowing how many lives the neurowing had saved and would save in the future. The Bradley Snyder Pavilion was really a testament to both Luke and Reid. She almost defended Reid’s character before she realized that it didn’t matter. It’s not as though she was trying to get Noah and Reid together.
Lily gave Mason a practiced smile. “I’m sure you’d be incredibly bored while Noah and I catch up. Why don’t we bring you something back to eat?”
Mason eyed Lily in amusement. “What? And miss the chance to hear all about Luke? No way. Any day that passes without the mention of Luke Snyder is lacking in sunshine and joy for me. Fortunately for me, there’s rarely a day that goes by where I don’t hear the name of Luke Snyder.”
“Luke may have been far from perfect,” spat Noah. “But he always put my needs ahead of his own. Unlike some people.”
“Yeah,” said Mason with faux sympathy. “It must have been swell dating the Sainted Luke Snyder. Tell me the story again about the time you married a woman and he got all pissy about it. That ungrateful bastard.”
An agitated Lily patted her hair. She recalled an argument that had occurred about a year ago in the kitchen at the Snyder farmhouse. Emma Snyder had brought out some photographs of Noah and Ameera’s wedding ceremony. She had sighed over how lovely the ceremony had been. Reid had rudely told Emma that she was as insane as her daughter, NutMeg Snyder, if she had fond memories of the time that Noah had broken Luke’s heart by participating in that farce of a ceremony. He said that Luke deserved better than his family treating his heartbreak as inconsequential. As far as Lily had known, it had been the only time Reid had ever been rude to Emma. For some reason, Emma had never been able to see how completely wrong Reid was for Luke. Instead of slapping Reid in his face, Emma had looked at Luke who had been sitting silently at the table. She looked like she had been hit by a two-by-four. Not an uncommon occurrence with people who had dealt with Reid. Then she had profusely apologized to Luke for having participated in something that had caused him so much pain.
“Let’s go eat,” said Noah in a falsely jovial manner.
After a heated, and vicious, argument about where to eat, Lily drove the three of them to the restaurant that Noah selected.
“Like you care where we eat as long as there’s booze enough to keep you numb,” Noah said to Mason.
During the drive to the restaurant, Mason and Noah argued. They argued about which of them was the most selfish. They argued about whether the other one was unfaithful. They argued about which of them had used the last of the milk. Lily decided that it was imperative to save Noah from such an emotionally abusive relationship.
Once they had been seated at the restaurant, Mason had ordered a double scotch. Noah had tsked.
Lily coughed delicately. “I wasn’t sure how to bring this up but I think you have the right to know that your father recently contacted Luke from prison.”
“I didn’t know that,” said Noah.
“He letter was filled with vile threats,” said Lily.
“My father has done a lot of horrible things,” said Noah. “But he’s safely behind bars. I hope Luke doesn’t overreact to it. Luke always goes overboard about stuff. I’ll never forget the time he ruined everything by calling the cops on my dad. It was really heartbreaking for me when I thought my dad was dead, you know.”
Lily scratched her ear. When Luke had gotten the letter, it had been Reid who had reacted. He raised a huge fuss with the prison authorities and threatened a lawsuit over their carelessly permitting convicted felons to make death threats to people. The authorities had been so cowed by Reid’s fury [and polysyllabic words] that they had transferred Winston Mayer to one of the most secure maximum-security prisons in the country. When Holden had tried to calm Reid down, Reid had viciously lit into Holden for treating the threat as unimportant. He reminded Holden that Winston had tried to kill Luke multiple times and had escaped prison previously. He had told Holden about the nightmares that Luke used to have when he had been paralyzed. Nightmares about hearing his family’s screams and being helpless to stop Winston from murdering everyone that he loved. Nightmares about Luke dragging his partially paralyzed body along the floors, room to room, discovering each member of his family’s mutilated corpse. Holden had been horrified by the idea of Luke having suffered such nightmares. Reid had called Holden an idiot for not considering that his teenage son might possibly have suffered from PTSD over his attempted murder. Holden had called his cousin, Jack Snyder. Jack had called a former contact in the FBI. Lily was pretty sure that Winston was going to spend the rest of his life in solitary confinement in a windowless cell.
“Oh, Luke hasn’t kicked up a fuss,” said Lily. She decided that she didn’t really want to get sidetracked by a discussion of the monstrous Winston Mayer.
Mason downed the last of his drink. He raised a hand and called out, “Garcon, I’d like another scotch!” It was probably the first time that any of the waiters in the Thai restaurant had been called ‘garcon.’
“If I wanted to be with a drunk, I would have stayed with Luke,” sneered Noah.
Lily gasped. She couldn’t believe that Noah had brought up Luke’s drinking so cavalierly. And to an outsider!
“Drinking’s the only thing that makes your self-righteousness bearable, sweetheart,” said Mason while raising his glass in a toast.
“Maybe I wouldn’t have to be so self-righteous if I didn’t pick men who had so many faults,” replied Noah.
Lily leaned back in her chair in shock. Luke was her precious baby and he did NOT have any faults. Perhaps Luke was just a smidgen emotional and impulsive. But he was the finest man she knew. He cared about people. He was smart and capable. And Reid understood all that about Luke. Reid might be rude and sarcastic but he had never treated Luke like Luke wasn’t someone to be ridiculously proud of. Reid valued Luke’s opinions, his strength, his humor. He valued Luke. Dr. Reid Oliver loved Luke. Really loved.
Suddenly, Lily came to the realization that sometimes people really do have epiphanies. The incredibly imperfect Reid was perfect for Luke. Crap.