Amnesia is Stupid: Chapter 3. A Fanfic
Title: Amnesia is Stupid. Chapter 3.
Author: nancygrew
Rating: G
Disclaimer: Characters belong to ATWT
Notes: Futurefic. AU after Reid drives to Bay City for a heart. Takes place ~late August 2014
Summary. Amnesia fic. Oakdale is stupid.
Reid awoke suddenly. "Barbecue!" he exclaimed happily. His gaze hit upon a pretty blonde woman who appeared to be in her mid to late thirties. She was carrying a paper bag and wearing a relieved smile. He looked around for Mr. Snyder and didn’t see him in the room. He frowned.
"Fortunately for me, Luke was called into Grimaldi Shipping for an emergency," explained the blonde. "He’ll be back as soon as he handles some sort of customs crisis."
"You’re not a fan of Mr. Snyder’s?" asked Reid coolly with a raised eyebrow.
"I love Luke with a love that’s fierce and pure. However, the big worrywart was afraid that you might be feeling overwhelmed by all of the crowds today and requested that everyone else stay away until at least tomorrow," replied the woman. "I needed to see for myself that you were okay so I risked his wrath with the idea of trying to bribe my way in here with food. As soon as I got here, Luke was called away so he asked me to stay with you."
"I really don’t need a babysitter," snarked Reid.
The blonde smiled indulgently at him and leaned forward to kiss him. Reid shrank back.
The blonde became flustered. "I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to offend you. I wasn’t hitting on you or anything. I would never do that to you or to Luke even if you were straight. Well, there was one embarrassing incident after my nightmarish divorce when I got drunk and ended up---, never mind. I apologize for making you uncomfortable."
Reid sighed. "Look, I didn’t mean to upset you. You’re probably a fine person. It’s just that I’ve spent a lot of time today being kissed and patted and being called ‘champ’. I guess it was starting to feel a little too much. I apologize for the overreaction on my part. I take it you’re yet another relative of Mr. Snyder’s?"
The woman looked a little startled by Reid’s use of the name ‘Mr. Snyder’. "I’m Katie. I was married to a cousin once removed of Luke’s. Actually I was married to two different cousins once removed of Luke’s. Long story. Anyway, I’m your best friend."
"I’m not sure that I buy that I have a best friend but it smells like you have barbecue so I’m willing to discuss the matter like a reasonable adult," answered Reid.
Katie grinned. She moved the hospital tray close to Reid and unpacked the food. She pulled the chair close to the bed. She hadn’t even sat down before Reid was filling one of the plates with food from the various containers. She was surprised to see Reid actually pause before beginning to eat supper. He looked like Jacob on Christmas morning trying to decide which present to open first. She was suddenly glad that she had brought enough food for three people.
Reid shoved a forkful of pork slathered in a mustard-based barbecue sauce into his mouth. Katie was a little taken aback to see Reid’s eyes close in pleasure and to hear him moan. She was once again reminded why a woman might have some sort of embarrassing attempted seduction incident if Reid was around and if she was really drunk. Thank goodness that Luke wasn’t the type to carry a grudge and that Reid was the type to just shrug off someone being attracted to him due to his belief that everyone on the planet should want to have sex with him.
Reid tried a forkful of the squash casserole side dish. He hummed a little. Next was the corn pudding side dish. He did what might have been termed a ‘shimmy’. Reid then tried a bite of the mustard greens. He made a ridiculously happy grin.
Reid glanced up to see that Katie looked a little put out over being ignored in favor of food. Food that she had brought him. Normally he didn’t really care if he annoyed people but she had said that she was his best friend so he thought he’d make an effort.
"Thank you for bringing me nourishment. Food is an excellent basis for friendship."
Katie smiled and poured him a glass of water from the pitcher on his side table. "You’re welcome. The food is from a blues club slash barbecue restaurant named The Juke Joint. You and Luke actually own 70% of the place. Of course you probably eat away any profit you make from the place."
"25-30% of new restaurants go out of business in their first year although the percentage is often misquoted as 90%," frowned Reid. "Luke and I both have high-pressure jobs. Why would we be idiotic enough to buy into a restaurant?"
"Luke actually started the restaurant a couple of years ago in order to gain college credit for entrepeneurship and venture initiation," explained Katie. "He did research, created the marketing plan, worked with the architect on designing the building, designed the web page, etc.,. The place is pretty awesome and has been successful financially from day one."
"It sounds like a lot of hard work," replied Reid wondering if Mr. Snyder was just as big a workaholic as he was. If both members of a marriage were workaholics, was that a great thing or a really bad thing?
"Well, Luke did most of the work involved in the set up and paid for everything but you did help with the culinary aspects of setting up the business." advised Katie.
"I’m sure that I did so out of a desire to be a good husband as opposed to gluttony," replied Reid blandly.
"You guys and Luke’s grandma Emma ate a lot of barbecue for a few months there," Katie said. "You had different types of barbecue delivered to your house from places all over the country. I had no idea that there were so many different regional types of barbecue. Kansas City, Memphis, Texas, Kentucky, etc.,. etc.,. The three of you even spent a few weekends traveling to barbecue Mecca’s. You voluntarily put up with germ-infested hotel rooms because you were being a supportive husband. And a gluttonous pig."
Reid swallowed the GIGANTIC portion of pork that was in his mouth. "I cannot believe how good this is and I’ve lived in Texas for years."
"The Juke Joint is most famous for it’s pork. The place marinates an entire pig in an apple cider vinegar marinade for an entire day and then slow roasts the whole thing. You also serve brisket and chicken. And a bunch of sides."
"Mr. Snyder did all of the work and put up all of the financing and only has 70% ownership?" asked Reid incredulously. "Thank goodness that he’s pretty."
"Ha! His grandma Emma actually created the recipes and chose the preparation techniques and menu selections once you guys narrowed down what you wanted," explained Katie. "She created four different barbecue sauces for the place. A South Carolinian-type mustard based sauce. A Kansas City-type thick tomato-y sauce. A Hong Kong-type honey and soy sauce. And a Southeast Asian-type sauce made with curry and peanuts."
"This mustard sauce is pure ambrosia. I want to swim naked in it," said Reid. "And possibly marry it."
"The food is really popular. Even people who aren’t big blues fans come to The Juke Joint," said Katie. "Because Emma’s cooking skills were so vital to creating the place, Luke made sure to give her 15% ownership."
"That actually seems fair," agreed Reid. "Hey, have you ever had her incredible oatmeal raisin cookies? She brought me some today. They were totally worth being shot in the head for."
Katie gave a little shiver that Reid didn’t notice because he was busy shoving some of the corn pudding into his mouth. He had always reminded Katie of those snakes that unhinge their jaws in order to eat prey that have a bigger circumference than the snakes themselves.
"The remaining 15% ownership belongs to Luke’s Aunt Carly," continued Katie. "She gets a salary too as manager. When the place opened, Carly started running it. She does all the hiring and training. She chooses the bands and updates the website. She’s the one who pushed Luke into expanding the operation so that they could market Emma’s barbecue sauces. Carly used to be a designer and she created a really stylish design for the sauce jars and labels."
"The important question is whether The Juke Joint delivers or not," said Reid.
Katie burst out laughing.
"What’s so funny?" asked Reid.
"You and the delivery thing," spluttered Katie. "You’re forever harassing Luke about why The Juke Joint doesn’t deliver. He generally ignores you. If he’s feeling mean, he’ll refer you to his Aunt Carly as he lets her make all of the decisions for the place because he’s so busy with other stuff. It is hysterical when you harass Carly about the delivery thing. She gets completely exasperated with you. Last time you bugged her about it, she called you every hour on the hour making suggestions on how you could improve the way you run Oakdale Memorial Hospital. Not all of the suggestions were G-rated."
"Is 2014 Reid Oliver mean about harassing Mr. Snyder about the delivery?" asked Reid while not making eye contact with Katie.
"Heck no," said Katie. "You and Luke have a great relationship. You’re supportive and nurturing of each other. Sometimes the nurturing is done in a sarcastic tone of voice or the support is offered with a side of eye rolling which makes certain people think you’re being mean to each other."
"That’s good," said Reid. He shoved some more pork in his mouth.
"Dr. Oliver!" squealed Katie. "You’ve known Luke for less than a day and you’re already worrying about whether future you hurts his feelings? You have feelings for Luke! Luke and Amnesiac Reid sitting in a tree, K - I - S - S - I -N-G. First comes love-"
Reid hurriedly swallowed so he could say, "Shut up, weirdo."
"It’s so romantic!" said Katie. "You two are the Romeo and Juliet of Oakdale!"
"Romeo and Juliet, who is thirteen years old in the play by the way, were a couple of hormone-addled morons who knew each other for a few days and ended up killing themselves," snarled Reid. "Pardon me for not being flattered by the comparison. And I do not have feelings for Mr. Snyder. For all intents and purposes, I just met him today."
Katie grinned. "Then why do you care if 2014 Reid Oliver is mean to him?"
"The guy bought a coffee maker for my office because he’s worried that I’ll have PTSD and won’t feel comfortable going into that Java place. He seems like a nice guy and I was hoping that I wasn’t a horrible husband to him, that’s all. I’m not exactly a warm and cuddly guy."
"You’ve never been as gruff and mean as you wanted people to believe," said Katie.
"That’s just crazy talk," answered Reid calmly. "Obviously you don’t know me at all. I think you’re probably just some random person off the streets who wandered in here and you’re pretending that we’ve actually met. You haven’t done away with Mr. Snyder, have you?"
"One, it’s weird that you’re calling Luke Mr. Snyder," answered Katie. "Two, other than Luke, I probably know you better than anyone else. We were roommates for nearly a year when you first come to Oakdale. I know all of your secrets. From your weird, middle of the night yoga chanting to your determination to do everything you can to save your patients."
"Why were we roommates?" asked Reid. "I hate even the idea of living with someone. Roommates tend to touch your stuff and spread their germs everywhere. And the talking. They insist on talking to you. I hate that."
"We met in Java when you first got to Oakdale," replied Katie. "Jacob, my son, was sick and I coerced you into helping us. You and I got to talking. At the time, it was just me and my baby living in my place. I was lonely and missing my late husband and thought that having somebody living there would make it seem less empty. You were dreading the idea of staying in a hotel room because you’re a germ-phobic freak. So we decided that you’d stay in my guest room while you were trapped in Oakdale."
"Why was I trapped in Oakdale?" asked Reid before he had quite finished swallowing the bit of squash casserole that he had in his mouth. "Mr. Snyder advised me that I came here for a patient but I’m not sure why I just didn’t have the patient shipped to Dallas if I needed to do more than a consult. Did I get stuck here when the drawbridge over the moat broke and thus separated Oakdale from the rest of the world? Or did Dr. Hughes make the offer about the neurology wing before he even had a chance to get to know me?"
Katie hesitated. "It’s a really long story about why you moved to Oakdale. The important thing is that you ended up finding love and your dream job and you’re very happy here. Honest."
Reid eyed Katie. "I’ve only known you for about fifteen minutes but I already know that you are a big Chatty Cathy. The fact that you are hesitating to talk about how I ended up trapped in Oakdale does not fill me with confidence. Is the big mystery something like Oakdale is purgatory and I’m actually dead?"
Katie nodded. "You’ve figured it out."
Reid decided to cut Katie some slack and to save the question that made her uncomfortable for Mr. Snyder.
"So, I assume that since you’re one of those people who have procreated that you have that ‘Look at what I’ve done’ misplaced sense of accomplishment," said Reid. "You probably want to show me pictures of this kid of yours. You may do so if it will make you happy but be aware that I’m not going to make up some lie about it being the cutest kid that I’ve ever seen or anything like that."
Katie hesitated.
"What?" asked Reid. "The kid is ugly, isn’t he? It’s okay, it’s not like I’m going to judge his worth on the basis of his attractiveness."
"My kid is not ugly, you goon," Katie said defensively. "Luke said that it’s important that nobody pressure you into remembering things and that we should all follow your lead regarding what you want to know and when you want to know it. So, I’m just trying to figure out if suggesting that we pull out the iPad that Ethan loaded up with pictures is me pushing you or if it’s okay because you sort of asked to see pictures of Jacob and he’s in some of them."
"How did you know that Ethan lent me his iPad?" asked Reid.
"Are you kidding?" asked Katie. "You getting hurt is a huge horrible thing and everyone has been in touch with everyone else since it happened. It’s especially frustrating for everyone because there’s not actually anything that we can do for you."
"It’s not like I’m dying," said Reid.
"We know that," said Katie. "But not only isn’t there anything that we can do to help you get better but since you don’t even remember us, we can’t even comfort you. Not that future you would put up with a lot of coddling but you know what I mean."
"Not really but don’t let that worry you," replied Reid. "Grab the iPad and hop up here. You can show me pictures of your ugly kid."
Katie rolled her eyes but she moved aside the hospital tray. She hopped up on the bed beside Reid and started to pull up pictures on Ethan’s iPad.
"Okay, these pictures were taking at the Fourth of July picnic at the Snyder Farm last month," she began. "Traditionally, Snyder men either skinny dip when they’re trying to seduce their girlfriends or they swim in body hiding boardshorts when it’s a family gathering. You may be the first guy to show up in a square leg cut swimsuit. After that it seems that every summer, more of the Snyder men show up at the Snyder pond wearing swimsuits instead of boardshorts. I’m not sure if it’s competition or what, but on behalf of all the Snyder women and all the gay Snyder men, which would be just Luke, thank you."
"You’re welcome," replied Reid. "Is that child trying to drown me in this picture?"
"That’s Jacob," said Katie. "He’s not trying to drown you. The two of you are playing."
"You sound like one of those dog owners who say, ‘Rover didn’t mean to hurt you when he bit off your foot. He was just playing.’"
"As you can see, my son is not ugly," said Katie who planned to hold a grudge against the insinuation that her child wasn’t physically attractive.
"No, he’s not ugly. And his head only seems slightly too large for his body."
Katie elbowed Reid. He grunted.
"Here’s a picture of you playing volleyball with Luke, your father-in-law Holden, your brother-in-law Aaron, Aaron’s wife Carolyn, your sister-in-law Abigail, Abigails’ husband Gregory, your sister-in-law Faith, my nephew Casey and Luke’s cousin MJ," advised Katie. She pointed out each person as she said their name.
"I play team sports now?" spluttered Reid. "Maybe I don’t have amnesia. Maybe I’ve been transported to some bizarro world where the me from that world is a hyper-masculine jock. Does the Reid Oliver from your world bully sensitive artistic types?"
"The Reid Oliver from my world enjoyed watching team sports on occasion but preferred to get his own exercise by yoga or swimming laps. Less forced contact with other people that way. Then he ended up falling for a guy who enjoys sports and was on the basketball and cross-country teams in school. The Reid Oliver from my world actually enjoys spending time with his beloved and so will sometimes do things that are normally outside of his own interests and/or comfort zone."
"Blech," said Reid. "Does the Child Tycoon do things that are outside his own interests and/or comfort zone for me?"
"Is it wrong that my mind went directly into the gutter with that question? Don’t answer that. Luke finds yoga boring but he likes doing it with you. He cheerfully went to the Mutter Museum in Philadelphia with you even though, surprisingly, he has no interest in medical oddities; it would have never occurred to him that he needed to see the Big Colon before he died. He willingly tags along on field trips that you take Ethan and Natalie to at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago," explained Katie.
"I suppose that it’s all very sweet that Baby Trump and I like to hang out together but I’m more interested in whether you spend a lot of time imaging me and him having sex," said Reid.
"More than I should," sighed Katie. "But don’t tell him that. He thinks of me as his aunt and it would freak him out."
A pretty red-headed doctor in her late twenties or early thirties knocked lightly on the door.
"Hi, Lucy," greeted Katie.
"Hi, Katie," replied the woman. "Hello, Reid. I’m Dr. Lucy Montgomery. I’m Luke’s cousin. Obviously I’m not here to check on you as a family member because Luke was very specific about us not smothering you with familial attention until you have time to get used to it. I’m here merely as a doctor checking on the welfare of one of the hospital’s patients."
"Do emergency room physicians spend a lot of time wandering the halls and stopping to check up on random patients?" asked Katie curiously.
Lucy fidgeted. "That’s my story and no one can prove otherwise. How are you feeling Reid?"
"I’m doing well, thank you," he replied. "So even the non-Snyders here in Snyderville are related to Mr. Snyder somehow?"
"Yes," Lucy answered. "I’m his cousin on his mother’s side. The Snyders are relatives on his father’s side. Sort of. It’s complicated."
"Where does Grimaldi Shipping fit in?" asked Reid.
"That’s his biological father’s side," answered Lucy. "No one in the Snyder family ever thinks of him as adopted. He’s just thought of as a Snyder. I hope it doesn’t freak you out but you’re thought of as a member of the family by the Snyders now too."
"Are you one of those sensitive types like Katie here?" asked Reid.
"It depends on why you’re asking the question," asked a wary Lucy.
"She’s showing me pictures, if you want to join us, you can," answered Reid.
Lucy smiled widely. "Did you look at your wedding photos, yet?" When Reid shook his head, Lucy hurriedly pulled the chair close to the bed so that she was sitting close to Reid who was holding the iPad.
Katie pulled up the file with wedding photos. Katie and Lucy sighed dreamily over the first picture which showed the couple standing at the altar holding hands and grinning at one another. They pulled up picture after picture. The pictures were beautiful and were obviously done by an expert photographer. There were photos of the reception and the wedding. There were posed photos and candid photos. There were photos of people dancing and laughing and kissing and grinning. Reid didn’t recognize himself in the pictures. Sure, he recognized his body and face but he didn’t recognize the happiness and contentedness. He had never been the romantic type that dreamed cozy dreams of love and marriage and family. He had never felt the need for those things. He was an absolutely brilliant, world-renowned neurosurgeon without illusions and didn’t need anything else.
Reid had read somewhere once of the Portuguese word saudade. It was used to describe a sentimental longing for that which had been lost and which might never be found again. He was suddenly feeling very Portuguese. He just wasn’t sure which life he was longing for.