Fic: The Other Side of Us, Part 6
Title: The Other Side of Us
Author: random_nic
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: ATWT characters are the property of Telenext and CBS.
Word Count: 1774
Summary: Lives are changed in the wake of a traumatic event.
He'd lain awake for awhile now. Again. No amount of hoping for the sweet oblivion of sleep would bring it.
He hadn't dreamed since Luke died - not that he could remember. But his mind wouldn't leave him alone while conscious. Left to its own devices, it insisted upon showing him Luke.
Luke smiling. Luke laughing. Even Luke yelling at him.
But always Luke.
******
He dreamt of Luke repeatedly. Apparently, his brain wasn't content to torture him solely in the light of day. Every night, without fail, Luke lived again in his dreams.
They weren't even nightmares. The scenes were usually mundane. Luke would show up to keep him company on his break. Luke would regale him with the latest slice of Snyder drama. Luke would even reach out to take his hand and press his cheek against it.
But always Luke.
******
September 16th
Reid arrived half an hour earlier for lunch at Al's than he had the previous two days. On leave, he didn't have to keep a schedule. When he was working, his schedule kept him; he picked up lunch at Al's whenever he could find time in his day to do so. Though more recently, Luke had often picked it up for him, joining Reid for lunch at the hospital.
So there was no particular reason Reid showed up early today. He didn't have to beat the lunch crowd to grab take-out. With abundant time on his hands to dine in, he could come at 10 a.m. or two in the afternoon.
It also wasn't significant that he chose the same booth - the one he'd found Noah sitting in two days running.
He certainly wasn't interested to see what Noah would do when the other man walked in ten minutes later. The surprise was evident on Noah's face. Maybe he did wonder a little if Noah would interpret Reid's booth choice as an affront.
He watched Noah's eyes leave him and scan the room. There were two empty booths. Reid could see Noah internally debating which to take.
He might've been a little intrigued, though, when Noah suddenly looked back at Reid in challenge, stalked over, and plopped down opposite him.
******
September 28th
He was going to be late. Nevermind that in the two weeks since Reid had first sat down at Noah’s table, he’d never once been invited to. After the day Reid had one-upped Noah by arriving first, an unspoken understanding set in.
Neither liked the other. In any other circumstance, they wouldn’t have given each other the time of day. But if familiarity bred contempt, somehow for them, their contempt bred a moment’s relief.
Spending one hour a day snarking at each other meant sixty minutes free of mourning.
Each of them had friends (though Reid, considerably less). There were better options for an agreeable lunch date than each other. But there was no better choice for an adversarial companion than one another.
For an hour a day, every day, they occupied Noah’s booth at Al’s. They mostly spoke only to give each other shit. When Reid arrived yesterday, Noah told him he couldn’t sit down, since there wasn’t enough room for his ego. Reid sat anyway, replying that his ego fit into the booth easily since Noah’s brain took up so little space.
Reid’s mouth twisted into a smile at the memory.
“Is something funny, Dr. Oliver?” The board member sporting the white combover - Collins, was it? - regarded Reid with a patronizing look.
“Besides your hair?”
“Dr. Oliver!” Bob’s admonition held the familiar tinge of exasperation. He was forever trying to get Reid to play nice with Memorial’s board, with decidedly limited success.
“I apologize,” Reid conceded, but he made a point to look at Bob - not the board member he’d just insulted. He regretted making Bob’s day more difficult, but wasn’t remotely sorry for knocking the insufferable prick beside him down a peg.
“As I was saying,” Bob continued. Reid actually didn’t have the first idea what Bob had been saying. His mind had wandered from almost the first moment he’d sat down to this meeting, which he’d only been informed of an hour earlier.
He was going to be late for lunch.
******
Noah hadn’t ordered yet. Somewhere in the cold, dark recesses of his heart, Reid pushed aside the scrap of warmth that threatened to creep in with the realization. For all he knew, Noah had arrived later than usual, too, and hadn’t been waiting at all.
Reid was hardly going to ask. As it was, Noah greeted him with the same irritated, put-upon expression he did every day. The waitress appeared almost instantaneously, bringing Noah’s soda and Reid’s black coffee to the table. By now, she didn’t need to ask first.
“You look like shit.” As opening salvos go, it wasn’t inspired, but today it was true. The younger man looked exhausted.
“Thanks,” Noah replied, in what was undoubtedly meant as sarcasm, but lacked the edge required. He looked as though he meant to say something else, but seemed to decide against it, and fell silent again.
“You know,” Reid continued. “Just because your surgery was months ago doesn’t mean you get to slack off on maintaining your health.”
“You’re not my doctor. What I do doesn’t concern you.”
“The hell it doesn’t!” Reid noted the rise in his own voice, and worked to bring it back to a controlled tone. “Taking your case meant turning down someone else. If you don’t appreciate your own recovery, spare a thought for the patient in Dallas who didn’t get his because of you.”
That missile hit its target. Noah’s face, normally so adept at masking his feelings, momentarily lost its façade. Reid watched the emotions play across it. Anger, guilt, and finally, grudging concession.
“I’m not sleeping too well.”
Reid withheld the barb on the tip of his tongue about Noah stating the obvious. He’d lain awake at night enough himself the last few weeks. “If I were your doctor, I could write you a prescription for that.”
“Well you’re not,” Noah retorted, making it clear he wished that state of affairs to remain as it was.
“No. But I can give you a referral-”
“For a brain surgeon you’re not all that smart. How many times do I have to tell you where you can stuff your damn referrals?”
Reid was momentarily taken aback by the vehemence of Noah’s aggravation. Though they’d bickered reliably for the past two weeks, the acrimony behind it had dulled significantly. Or so Reid had thought.
"Think of somewhere else I can put them,” Reid recovered. “I can’t fit any more there.
Clearly against his will, Noah’s reluctant smirk emerged. Reid felt oddly victorious in having elicited it. But then, he always had loved a challenge.
******
October 5th
“You egotistical, self-serving, backstabbing asshole!”
Until this point, lunch had been the usual affair. Noah groused about Reid’s presence; Reid insulted Noah’s intelligence. They were each finishing off their respective pieces of Al’s heavenly key lime pie when the recently recovered Chris Hughes stomped up to their booth.
“What did you do?” Noah asked Reid in response to Chris’ outburst.
“My job,” Reid answered disdainfully, annoyed at being expected to explain himself.
“Your job is to throw me under the bus?” Chris stood trembling in anger above their table. “I thought your job was to be a surgeon.”
“It seems my job now is Memorial’s Chief of Staff,” Reid replied evenly.
This was news to Noah. “You got the job?” He immediately wanted to kick himself for sounding interested.
“No, he stole the job,” Chris amended. “He went to the board last week and told them I was unfit because of my illness.”
Reid reflexively sported one of his harder eye rolls. “I didn’t go to the board; I was called before them. There’s a difference.”
“And you were only too happy to give them dirt on me. I can just imagine the lies you came up with!”
“I made up with nothing.” Reid was getting well and truly annoyed now. He hadn’t even wanted to go to the damn meeting. He largely stonewalled the board’s questions, citing Chris’ patient confidentiality. But when his own ethics came under fire, Reid had to at least confirm he’d tried to get Chris to see a qualified specialist for his condition.
“You want me to believe it’s just a coincidence that after talking to you, the board gives you the Chief of Staff job and me a suspension?”
That surprised Reid. He’d known he’d landed the job, of course. But Bob wouldn’t have informed him of disciplinary action taken against Chris.
“I want nothing from you,” Reid replied with open contempt. After everything he’d done to try and save the man’s life, he’d been rewarded with ingratitude, derision, and a dead boyfriend. He was done with this conversation.
Without another word, he placed cash on the table to cover his meal, stood up from the booth, and walked out of Al’s.
******
Noah didn’t know what to make of the scene he’d just witnessed. A few weeks ago, he’d have accepted any accusation against Reid as the gospel truth. Now, he didn’t know what to think.
As much as Noah had tried to avoid Reid after the doctor began dating Luke, even he knew about the heated competition to replace Bob Hughes as Memorial’s Chief of Staff. While Reid had thrown his victory in Chris’ face, he seemed to take no satisfaction in it. Noah supposed that like himself, Reid found little joy in life these days - even in a promotion the man would’ve reveled in only weeks ago.
“Do you want to sit down?”
Chris turned from glaring at the door where Reid had just exited. “Uh. Maybe that’d be a good idea. Thanks.” He moved to sit across from Noah. “So, how are you doing?”
Noah blinked, surprised that in the haze of his anger, Chris still thought to ask about him. “Okay, I guess. I don’t know. You?”
“The same.”
Each understood what the other really meant. Shitty, but I don’t want to talk about it. When the waitress arrived with the check, Noah had her add on a slice of pie for Chris. He figured it couldn’t hurt.
“You’re right,” Chris enthused a short time later, his earlier upset seemingly tabled for the moment. “This does help.” To punctuate the point, he held up a morsel of the pie on his fork, before scarfing it down in enjoyment.
Noah couldn’t help but wonder if within the heart inside Chris, Luke could feel a little pleasure, too.
Chapter 7
Author: random_nic
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: ATWT characters are the property of Telenext and CBS.
Word Count: 1774
Summary: Lives are changed in the wake of a traumatic event.
He'd lain awake for awhile now. Again. No amount of hoping for the sweet oblivion of sleep would bring it.
He hadn't dreamed since Luke died - not that he could remember. But his mind wouldn't leave him alone while conscious. Left to its own devices, it insisted upon showing him Luke.
Luke smiling. Luke laughing. Even Luke yelling at him.
But always Luke.
******
He dreamt of Luke repeatedly. Apparently, his brain wasn't content to torture him solely in the light of day. Every night, without fail, Luke lived again in his dreams.
They weren't even nightmares. The scenes were usually mundane. Luke would show up to keep him company on his break. Luke would regale him with the latest slice of Snyder drama. Luke would even reach out to take his hand and press his cheek against it.
But always Luke.
******
September 16th
Reid arrived half an hour earlier for lunch at Al's than he had the previous two days. On leave, he didn't have to keep a schedule. When he was working, his schedule kept him; he picked up lunch at Al's whenever he could find time in his day to do so. Though more recently, Luke had often picked it up for him, joining Reid for lunch at the hospital.
So there was no particular reason Reid showed up early today. He didn't have to beat the lunch crowd to grab take-out. With abundant time on his hands to dine in, he could come at 10 a.m. or two in the afternoon.
It also wasn't significant that he chose the same booth - the one he'd found Noah sitting in two days running.
He certainly wasn't interested to see what Noah would do when the other man walked in ten minutes later. The surprise was evident on Noah's face. Maybe he did wonder a little if Noah would interpret Reid's booth choice as an affront.
He watched Noah's eyes leave him and scan the room. There were two empty booths. Reid could see Noah internally debating which to take.
He might've been a little intrigued, though, when Noah suddenly looked back at Reid in challenge, stalked over, and plopped down opposite him.
******
September 28th
He was going to be late. Nevermind that in the two weeks since Reid had first sat down at Noah’s table, he’d never once been invited to. After the day Reid had one-upped Noah by arriving first, an unspoken understanding set in.
Neither liked the other. In any other circumstance, they wouldn’t have given each other the time of day. But if familiarity bred contempt, somehow for them, their contempt bred a moment’s relief.
Spending one hour a day snarking at each other meant sixty minutes free of mourning.
Each of them had friends (though Reid, considerably less). There were better options for an agreeable lunch date than each other. But there was no better choice for an adversarial companion than one another.
For an hour a day, every day, they occupied Noah’s booth at Al’s. They mostly spoke only to give each other shit. When Reid arrived yesterday, Noah told him he couldn’t sit down, since there wasn’t enough room for his ego. Reid sat anyway, replying that his ego fit into the booth easily since Noah’s brain took up so little space.
Reid’s mouth twisted into a smile at the memory.
“Is something funny, Dr. Oliver?” The board member sporting the white combover - Collins, was it? - regarded Reid with a patronizing look.
“Besides your hair?”
“Dr. Oliver!” Bob’s admonition held the familiar tinge of exasperation. He was forever trying to get Reid to play nice with Memorial’s board, with decidedly limited success.
“I apologize,” Reid conceded, but he made a point to look at Bob - not the board member he’d just insulted. He regretted making Bob’s day more difficult, but wasn’t remotely sorry for knocking the insufferable prick beside him down a peg.
“As I was saying,” Bob continued. Reid actually didn’t have the first idea what Bob had been saying. His mind had wandered from almost the first moment he’d sat down to this meeting, which he’d only been informed of an hour earlier.
He was going to be late for lunch.
******
Noah hadn’t ordered yet. Somewhere in the cold, dark recesses of his heart, Reid pushed aside the scrap of warmth that threatened to creep in with the realization. For all he knew, Noah had arrived later than usual, too, and hadn’t been waiting at all.
Reid was hardly going to ask. As it was, Noah greeted him with the same irritated, put-upon expression he did every day. The waitress appeared almost instantaneously, bringing Noah’s soda and Reid’s black coffee to the table. By now, she didn’t need to ask first.
“You look like shit.” As opening salvos go, it wasn’t inspired, but today it was true. The younger man looked exhausted.
“Thanks,” Noah replied, in what was undoubtedly meant as sarcasm, but lacked the edge required. He looked as though he meant to say something else, but seemed to decide against it, and fell silent again.
“You know,” Reid continued. “Just because your surgery was months ago doesn’t mean you get to slack off on maintaining your health.”
“You’re not my doctor. What I do doesn’t concern you.”
“The hell it doesn’t!” Reid noted the rise in his own voice, and worked to bring it back to a controlled tone. “Taking your case meant turning down someone else. If you don’t appreciate your own recovery, spare a thought for the patient in Dallas who didn’t get his because of you.”
That missile hit its target. Noah’s face, normally so adept at masking his feelings, momentarily lost its façade. Reid watched the emotions play across it. Anger, guilt, and finally, grudging concession.
“I’m not sleeping too well.”
Reid withheld the barb on the tip of his tongue about Noah stating the obvious. He’d lain awake at night enough himself the last few weeks. “If I were your doctor, I could write you a prescription for that.”
“Well you’re not,” Noah retorted, making it clear he wished that state of affairs to remain as it was.
“No. But I can give you a referral-”
“For a brain surgeon you’re not all that smart. How many times do I have to tell you where you can stuff your damn referrals?”
Reid was momentarily taken aback by the vehemence of Noah’s aggravation. Though they’d bickered reliably for the past two weeks, the acrimony behind it had dulled significantly. Or so Reid had thought.
"Think of somewhere else I can put them,” Reid recovered. “I can’t fit any more there.
Clearly against his will, Noah’s reluctant smirk emerged. Reid felt oddly victorious in having elicited it. But then, he always had loved a challenge.
******
October 5th
“You egotistical, self-serving, backstabbing asshole!”
Until this point, lunch had been the usual affair. Noah groused about Reid’s presence; Reid insulted Noah’s intelligence. They were each finishing off their respective pieces of Al’s heavenly key lime pie when the recently recovered Chris Hughes stomped up to their booth.
“What did you do?” Noah asked Reid in response to Chris’ outburst.
“My job,” Reid answered disdainfully, annoyed at being expected to explain himself.
“Your job is to throw me under the bus?” Chris stood trembling in anger above their table. “I thought your job was to be a surgeon.”
“It seems my job now is Memorial’s Chief of Staff,” Reid replied evenly.
This was news to Noah. “You got the job?” He immediately wanted to kick himself for sounding interested.
“No, he stole the job,” Chris amended. “He went to the board last week and told them I was unfit because of my illness.”
Reid reflexively sported one of his harder eye rolls. “I didn’t go to the board; I was called before them. There’s a difference.”
“And you were only too happy to give them dirt on me. I can just imagine the lies you came up with!”
“I made up with nothing.” Reid was getting well and truly annoyed now. He hadn’t even wanted to go to the damn meeting. He largely stonewalled the board’s questions, citing Chris’ patient confidentiality. But when his own ethics came under fire, Reid had to at least confirm he’d tried to get Chris to see a qualified specialist for his condition.
“You want me to believe it’s just a coincidence that after talking to you, the board gives you the Chief of Staff job and me a suspension?”
That surprised Reid. He’d known he’d landed the job, of course. But Bob wouldn’t have informed him of disciplinary action taken against Chris.
“I want nothing from you,” Reid replied with open contempt. After everything he’d done to try and save the man’s life, he’d been rewarded with ingratitude, derision, and a dead boyfriend. He was done with this conversation.
Without another word, he placed cash on the table to cover his meal, stood up from the booth, and walked out of Al’s.
******
Noah didn’t know what to make of the scene he’d just witnessed. A few weeks ago, he’d have accepted any accusation against Reid as the gospel truth. Now, he didn’t know what to think.
As much as Noah had tried to avoid Reid after the doctor began dating Luke, even he knew about the heated competition to replace Bob Hughes as Memorial’s Chief of Staff. While Reid had thrown his victory in Chris’ face, he seemed to take no satisfaction in it. Noah supposed that like himself, Reid found little joy in life these days - even in a promotion the man would’ve reveled in only weeks ago.
“Do you want to sit down?”
Chris turned from glaring at the door where Reid had just exited. “Uh. Maybe that’d be a good idea. Thanks.” He moved to sit across from Noah. “So, how are you doing?”
Noah blinked, surprised that in the haze of his anger, Chris still thought to ask about him. “Okay, I guess. I don’t know. You?”
“The same.”
Each understood what the other really meant. Shitty, but I don’t want to talk about it. When the waitress arrived with the check, Noah had her add on a slice of pie for Chris. He figured it couldn’t hurt.
“You’re right,” Chris enthused a short time later, his earlier upset seemingly tabled for the moment. “This does help.” To punctuate the point, he held up a morsel of the pie on his fork, before scarfing it down in enjoyment.
Noah couldn’t help but wonder if within the heart inside Chris, Luke could feel a little pleasure, too.
Chapter 7