Amnesia is Stupid. Chapter 5. A fanfic.
Title: Amnesia is Stupid. Chapter 5.
Author: nancygrew
Rated: G
Notes: Futurefic. AU after Reid drives off to Bay City. This muli-chapter fic takes place~late August 2014. Takes place after Jade Stays at Luke and Reid's Place. But you don't have to read any of my other fic in order to understand this multi-chapter fic. I had made an outline and written some dialogue before I started posting but this is just getting longer and longer. * Sigh.*
Warning: Completely pointless Tom and Chris bashing.
Disclaimer: Characters belong to ATWT
Summary: Casey stops by the hospital room.\
"Coffee," mumbled Reid as he awakened.
"Here, you go Doc," said a young blond man in his mid to late twenties. The man was holding two large paper cups. He handed one to Reid. The blond sat done on the edge of Luke’s rollaway bed. The blond smacked Luke on the butt. Hard. Reid smiled as Luke yelped.
A messy-haired, frowning Luke turned over and sat up and glared at the blond. "Don’t spank me unless you mean it."
"I do mean it," leered the blond. "It’s morning and it’s time to get your lazy butt out of bed. Here’s some coffee."
Reid was amused to see Luke gulp down the coffee. He tasted his own coffee. It was good. It was a caramel latte with whipped cream and an extra shot. He glared at the blond for knowing his embarrassingly girly coffee order. The blond grinned at him unrepentantly. At least he didn’t make any cracks about Reid liking coffee that tasted like sparkly rainbows.
The blond pulled some papers from his briefcase and handed them to Luke. "These are the merger contracts. I need you to sign them."
Luke sighed. He grabbed the papers and took them over to the chair in the corner of the room so that he could read them.
The blond turned towards Reid. "Good morning, Man Without a Memory. I’m Casey Hughes. Welcome to the future. You should know that Soylent Green is people."
"Thanks for the heads up," replied Reid. "And for the coffee. How are you related to the Snyders?"
"Oddly enough, I’m not. One of my aunts was married to a couple of them. Two of my other aunts dated one of them. My two ex-wives were married to a couple of others. But I actually have no Snyder blood running through my veins. It’s been difficult for me and I’ve cried myself to sleep many nights but I’ve managed to survive."
Reid grunted in amusement. "All the Snyders seem very nice but I’m kind of relieved that you’re not going to pat me or kiss me or call me sweetie. 2009 Reid Oliver is completely thrown by how people have been choosing to interact with him. I don’t suppose you’re a mortal enemy of mine, are you? Because I know how to deal with that. It’s comfortable and familiar to me."
"I’m sorry to disappoint you but you and I are actually friends-ish," replied Casey.
Reid sighed in disappointment.
"If it helps at all, I thought you were a huge stinkin’ jerk when we first met," said Casey as he ruffled Reid’s hair.
"That actually does help. You aren’t just saying that to be nice?" asked Reid.
"Nope. I was working as an orderly here when you arrived in Oakdale as this big hotshot neurosurgeon who snootily looked down his nose and everything and everyone in our fair town. Then one day, out of the freaking blue, my friend since childhood lets me know that he’s all in love with you. I’ve got to tell you that I did not get it. At all."
"I’m an acquired taste," Reid said in an attempt at modesty.
"I didn’t try to talk him out of it or deprogram him or anything because Luke is a grown up but my fiancée-at-the-time and I were a little worried about him when we moved to Carbondale to further our educations."
"Carbondale? Not bright enough for the Ivy Leagues, I take it?" asked Reid in a polite tone of voice.
"Not even close," Casey said cheerily. "Plus they were all judgmental about my felony record."
"Imagine that," said Reid shaking his head. He and Casey both noticed when Luke put down the papers he was reading and headed to the room’s bathroom but didn’t say anything about it.
"Hey, this might cheer you up," said Casey. "When you and Luke decided to get married, my wife-at-the-time and I decided that we were going to have to talk Luke out of making a huge mistake. We had even devised a PowerPoint presentation about why you would make Luke a horrible, horrible husband."
"Obviously, it didn’t work," sniffed Reid.
"Luke’s sister Faith found out about it before we could show it to Luke," replied Casey. "Boy, was she pissed. You should have seen the way she told off Alison and me. I’m not ashamed to admit that she actually made me cry."
Reid grinned. "What did she say?"
Casey shivered in remembrance. "She started off by calling us idiots and then she just got downright mean. She threw our incredibly messy romantic and personal histories in our faces to show us that we had no right to judge anyone else’s love life. She went into details, man. It was brutal. Then she lit into us for being bad friends to Luke for having encouraged him to get back together with his jerky ex time and time again and for not calling the jerk on it when he was cruel to Luke."
"Did Luke ever find out about the aborted presentation?" asked Reid curiously.
"Yes," admitted Casey. "I just graduated law school this past June and moved back to Oakdale. Luke offered me a job at Grimaldi Shipping. I felt all guilty about how Luke’s always been a good friend to me and I confessed about how I had almost tried to destroy his relationship with you."
"Did he leap to my defense immediately?" Reid asked.
"He laughed really hard. Luke would climb mountains for you, fight lions barehanded for you, willingly listen to you describe brain surgery to him. But it wasn’t like our piddly little PowerPoint presentation would have ever had the ability to come between you two. I didn’t get that at the time but I get it now. The two of you make each other better." Casey shrugged.
Luke came out of the bathroom drying his hair with a towel.
"Dude, did you just run cold water over your head?" frowned Casey.
"Yes," said Luke while shooting Casey a betrayed look. "You went to law school and became a lawyer. You’ve written these contracts in contract-ese. There isn’t one sentence in English in this contract. Don’t speak to me until I muddle through them."
"You pay a lot of money to your legal team," said Casey. "You could just trust us and sign the thing without reading it."
"I am the grandson of Lucinda Walsh," replied Luke snootily. "Signing something without reading it and understanding it is not a possibility. Stop talking to me. Please."
"He’s usually not the cranky type," Casey whispered reassuringly to Reid. "Hey, if your brain damage lasts long enough and you really need a shot of enemy juice, I can get my Uncle Chris to visit from New Zealand. He hates you like Brady Bunch fans hate Cousin Oliver."
"Excellent. I’ll keep that in mind," replied Reid. "Any particular reason?"
"Apparently everything that has ever gone wrong in Uncle Chris’ life is because of you," answered Casey. "You first hit his radar when he was up for some fellowship in medical school that you got."
"The name Chris Hughes doesn’t even ring a bell with me," said Reid. "He must not have been one of the top finalists. There was only one student that even came close to being anywhere as near brilliant as I am."
Casey shrugged. "Then he came back to Oakdale Memorial shortly after you started working here. His dad, my granddad, was retiring as Chief of Staff and recommended you for the job. Uncle Chris hadn’t ever wanted the job but because you were offered it, he suddenly needed to become Chief of Staff more than anything else in the whole wide world."
"Spite as a career-motivator," replied Reid. "Interesting way to decide upon how to select a career path."
Casey shrugged again. "You obviously got the COS job and I think everyone knows that Granddad always felt that the best man got the job. Then when you became COS, the Chief of Pediatrics position became available. Instead of giving it to Chris, you gave it to Dr. Duke Kramer."
"First of all, I can’t believe that this hospital actually considered a pediatrician for the job of Chief of Staff. Couldn’t they find a fry cook that they liked for the position? Secondly, I’m not even in the pediatrics field and I’ve heard of Dr. Kramer. If he was willing to come to Smurf Village then we were really lucky to get him."
Casey shrugged yet again. "Duke and Chris did not get along. Since you always took Duke’s side, Chris actually threatened to sue the hospital as a hostile workplace. The board had a hearing but decided Chris didn’t have a case. Granddad was embarrassed about his son being a big, freaking crybaby. But Kim, Chris’ mom, took his side and was really angry with you. She called you Kiddo for two years. You’ll just have to trust me when I tell you that that’s her way of calling you a See You Next Tuesday. I wasn’t around a lot at the time but I assumed that Chris was the good guy and you were the bad guy."
"Have you changed your mind about that?" asked Reid not really caring if Casey still hated him.
"Yeah," said Casey. "When Chris ran off with my wife to New Zealand, I reevaluated how I was looking at the Reid Oliver/Chris Hughes feud."
"Ouch," said Reid. "Family holidays must be a ton of fun at the Hughes homestead."
"Chris has only been back once since he left," replied Casey. "He came back for my grandma’s funeral. He didn’t inherit as much as he expected. His ex-wife Katie punched him in the face. And Granddad lectured him. Let me tell you, a lecture from Granddad hurts way more than a punch in the face. Not a good visit for Good Ol’ Uncle Chris."
"Blonde Katie with the kid Jacob?" asked Reid curiously.
"Yes, she was married to him and walked in on him and Alison," said Chris. "She was pretty devastated when it happened but I don’t think Chris was good for her. After she got over the betrayal and humiliation, she was much happier without Chris. Some of her friends and family harass her about not dating but she really loves being independent and husband-free. She’s been concentrating on Jacob and her career and her friends. I’ve been concentrating on school and my career since the incident. I don’t get as much guff about the fact that I haven’t been dating. The double standard has once again paid off for me."
"Congratulations," said Reid.
"Thanks," said Casey. "Okay, I don’t want to put any pressure on you but do you think you could regain your memory by next Saturday?"
"That’s really not how amnesia works," Reid replied drolly. "What’s so special about next Saturday?"
"It’s the first Saturday of the month," said Casey. "You and Luke entertain on the first Saturday of the month. Your face is going to freeze like that, you know. Anyway, sometimes you have fundraisers, other times you have family buffets but this is going to be one of your little intimate, fancy dinner parties. I’m invited to this one, which has annoyed Luke’s cousin MJ because MJ thinks that it was his turn to be invited but he got to go to the cocktail party last month as his mother’s escort. Anyway, this month’s theme is Buenos Aires."
Reid opened the side table. He pulled out his wallet. There were three twenty-dollar bills. "I will pay you $60 if you stop talking about the fact that the future me co-hosts theme parties. I suppose I should be grateful that my child groom doesn’t have me co-hosting Twilight-theme parties. "
"Anyway, Luke’s going to serve empanadas as appetizers, grilled meats with chimichurri and some sides as the entrée and alfajores as dessert," said Casey ignoring Reid interruption. "And Faith has been teaching me how to tango. I am super-excited about it."
"Faith’s too young for you," said Reid as he frowned at Casey.
"You’re gross," said Casey. "I have known Faith since she was a baby. Plus, Luke’s fully aware of my past with women and he wouldn’t let me go near her if I was gross enough to make a move on her. And I find it interesting that the age difference between me and Faith is less than the age difference between you and Luke but you’re creeped out by it."
"Apparently, I’m a gigantic hypocrite," said Reid. "Who knew?"
"Self discovery is always a positive thing," nodded Casey.
"Would it be mean if I faked still having amnesia if I get my memory back before this party from Hell?" asked Reid.
"Yes," answered Casey.
"Okay, I’m done," said Luke as he came back over to Reid and Casey. He sat down beside Reid and handed Casey the signed paperwork.
"So, is this merger one of those evil corporate mergers where vast amounts of noble but poor people are put out of work because wealthy tycoons are uncaring monsters?" asked Reid.
"Yes," replied Luke. "The end result of this paperwork will be bread lines, and shantytowns made of cardboard, and Tiny Tim’s crutch being burned for firewood."
"Reid-Dude," said Casey. "Just in case you haven’t picked up on the fact that Luke’s way too sweet to be an evil tycoon, you should know that Grimaldi Shipping has been voted one of the best companies to work for in the United States. Any merger that we do will result in rejoicing by the employees of the other company. Songs will be sung, interpretative dances will be danced, poems will be poem-ed."
"Casey, I talked to Aunt Ellie last night. She’s going to take over my meetings with the accounting department this morning. Abigail is going to facilitate the meeting in public relations about the new commercials for the cruise line. Can you meet with both of them today and see if they need you to deliver any paperwork to me at home?"
"Can do, Luke-a-rino," replied Casey. "Hey, I should probably give you a head’s up that my dad’s been talking about not accepting any new cases from Snyders from here on out."
"Thank you for letting me know, Casey," said Luke. "But there’s no need for you to get involved in this little contretemps. Your father is free to turn down any business that he doesn’t want. I’m sure that the next time one of us gets arrested or buys a business or whatever, we’ll be able to find another lawyer. It’s not a big deal."
"Hold up," said Reid. "I smell scandal. Why is Daddy Hughes refusing to do business with Snyders?"
"It’s not a big deal," said Luke. "And it’s so odd that you’re calling Tom Daddy Hughes because your loving nickname for Casey has always been Grandbaby Hughes."
"Faith told me that you usually refer to my dad as Humorless Tom," said Casey nonchalantly. After Reid snorted with laughter, he continued, "It’s sort of a big deal. My dad is probably the most respected lawyer in town and has been doing legal work for the Snyder family since forever but he’s all mad at Luke now because Luke went Luciano Grimaldi on his ass."
Reid grabbed a muffin and said, "Do tell!"
Casey grabbed a muffin as well. "Well, my dad had a problem with you getting the COS job over Chris even though you had saved Chris’ life when he was a big jerk and ignored his health problems because he wanted to get laid. Long story. Then my dad started having a problem with Luke."
"Luke’s friggin’ adorable. How could anyone have a problem with him? Look at his big anime eyes!"
"I know, it’s unbelievable," said Casey. "Anyway, when my grandmother died, she left most of her money to charity and then divided the rest up to all of the people that she loved."
"That sounds admirable."
"I know!" said Casey. "Grandma was just such a great, fun person. You liked her, by the way. Almost everyone in the family was proud that she gave most of the money to charity and they didn’t care that they received a nice inheritance instead of huge inheritance."
"What does this have to do with Luke?"
"Well, the one exception she made was that she left Luke all of the stocks that she had inherited from her fifth, or possibly sixth, husband, Eduardo Grimaldi," explained Casey. "Grandma felt that the Kingsley Malta shares should stay in Eduardo’s family."
"So, does Humorless Tom think that Luke somehow coerced your grandmother into naming him in her will or is he just a greedy pig?
"Reid!" said an appalled Luke. "You’re talking about Casey’s dad!"
"He’s not greedy," defended Casey. "But I think he took it as Grandma caring more about Luke’s family than her own. Which isn’t true but people are weird about money. So things between Luke and my dad were kind of chilly. Then when I moved back to Oakdale, I accepted the job with Grimaldi Shipping instead of joining my dad’s firm."
"Daddy was willing to hire a felon for his firm?" asked Reid.
"Reid!" exclaimed Luke.
"Yes," said Casey in response to Reid’s question. "My parents like me. Go figure. Anyway, he and my older sister Lien work together and my dad wanted me to join them. But the job at Grimaldi was really more interesting to me."
"What kind of law does your father practice?" asked Reid.
"A little bit of this, a little bit of that," replied Casey. "He’s handled divorces and custody battles and murder trials. But even if I didn’t want to ride on my dad’s coattails, the job at Grimaldi was more appealing. I get to work in international and maritime law. It’s also a much bigger company and I’ll have room to grow."
"And Humorless Tom blames Luke for offering you a job even though this is a huge opportunity for you? Your dad’s sort of a self-centered helicopter dad, isn’t he?"
"Reid, I am going to hold a pillow over your face until you lose consciousness," threatened Luke.
"No sex games in front of company, Luke," replied Reid. "So, does he think that his turning down business from a family with wealth and connections is somehow going to punish Luke?"
"Well, I think it’s more of a matter of despising Luke too much to want to work with any of his family," said Casey. "When I told my dad that I was going to work for Luke, he stormed off to see Luke. I arrived at the office just after my dad did but neither one noticed me."
"You spied on the grown-ups, didn’t you, you little scamp?" snarked Reid.
Casey grinned. "Anyway, my dad starting going off on Luke about hiring me so that Luke could have a frat buddy hanging around him. And how dare Luke try to come between a man and his family. And how dare he bring me into the viper’s nest that is the Grimaldi family business. And everyone knew that the Grimaldi blood would end up overriding any Snyder decency that Luke had experienced."
"I’d like to clarify that neither Casey nor I were ever in a frat," said Luke.
"I’m sure that was the part that Humorless Tom meant to be insulting," replied Reid.
"I was pretty shocked because my dad isn’t normally mean or vicious," said Casey. "He’s a decent man. Well, he’s cheated on my mom a couple of times but she’s cheated on him too. Anyway, I was about to leap to Luke’s defense when he morphed into Luciano Grimaldi."
"Casey, maybe you shouldn’t be taking such glee in the argument between me and your dad," said Luke.
Casey patted Luke on the head and continued talking to Reid. "Luke gave my dad an amused, ‘You’re such a peasant’ look. Then he started talking about how the opportunity to travel the world working for an international company with a history of literally hundreds of years was so much better for me than working in some provincial little law office run by a mediocre lawyer who had peaked professionally decades ago."
Reid snorted. He turned to Luke. "Can we invite Humorless Tom over for lunch today so that I can watch you give him a verbal smack down? I think it would really help my amnesia."
Dr. Karen Haines arrived. Casey said goodbye to Reid and Luke and left. Luke told Reid that he would be right outside during his exam. Luke kissed Reid on his forehead and left.
Karen smiled at Reid. "Let’s give you a lookover to make sure you can go home with Luke today."
Reid allowed Karen to poke and prod at him while he thought about the fact that he was going home today. Home. Huh.