"He doesn't like enclosed spaces." said Luke angrily. The nurse on duty would usually have told him exactly where to get off but the young man's boyfriend looked in a terrible state.
In a bigger room and with the nurses gone, Luke brushed the hair back from Reid's face. His expression was quite peaceful and content, but the deep scarring was what worried him. There was a mass of complicated tubes connected to his nostrils meaning that Luke couldn't fully trace the outline of his face without fear of disturbing something vital.
"You idiot Reid. I told you to be careful. I told you." He put his face close to Reid and felt their cheeks touching.
It just wasn't fair. Reid had got the heart and it had cost him his life. Somewhere down the hallway the Hughes family was probably rejoicing and here was Reid dying and no one seemed to care.
"I love you" he whispered to Reid, willing those eyes to open and give him that familiar steady stare.
He couldn't help the hot tears spilling from his eyes. They fell onto Reid's battered face and made Luke's heart sink even further. Reid had never looked looked so vulnerable and beaten. It almost made Luke smile in spite of himself to think of the Reid he had first met, that arrogant doctor with his furrowed brow and sarcastic wit. Luke's change in attitude towards Reid had been so gradual that it surprised him even now that it felt like his own heart was breaking into a million pieces.
"You cant go… For God's sake we havent even had a proper date yet… Don't leave me."
"Luke?"
Luke sniffed and turned around to see an anguished Katie who was doing her best not to start crying.
"Is Chris going to be alright?" asked Luke in a voice which sounded cold and lifeless to his own ears.
"Yes" whispered Katie. "We think so. Luke… Reid's a hero."
"No" said Luke. "He's so stupid. He was driving too fast. He should've been more careful… Katie.."
Luke turned back to look at Katie who was now looking slightly fearful.
"… Katie I need him to wake up."
Silently, she walked over, understanding Luke's terror. He allowed himelf to sob silently in her arms.
"He cant die. He cant!" Luke repeated.
"I know" she whispered back, but her words seemed hollow to Luke. There was nothing she could do.
Nurses entered the room alongside Dr Dixon who was looking uncharacteristically grave.
"Luke, I'm so sorry."
"What?" said Luke in confusion.
"We've done all we can, but Reid has suffered some very severe injuries and-"
"-No"
"-Luke you must understand."
"-What I understand…" said Luke, the volume of his voice rising with the anger he was feeling. "Is that no one in this hospital gives a damn about Reid-"
"-come on Luke, that isn't-"
"So where is everyone? Where is Bob? Where were all the nurses when I got here?"
Luke glared at everyone, feeling the anger rising in his chest, less painful than the fear.
"Oh, yeah. They were all fighting for Chris's life. And Reid is the reason he's alive right now. God, if you only knew how many times Reid helped that idiot out."
"Luke!" said Katie in shock.
"Well I'm sorry Katie but its true. If Chris would've just told someone about his illness sooner, instead of lying about it like a coward then none of this would've happened."
Breaking down, Luke turned around to hide the tears in his eyes. He knelt down beside Reid and took his hands in his, feeling the delicate veins and the long fingers which had performed so many surgeries, saving so many people's lives.
As though from across an ocean he heard John Dixon say.
"We'll leave you alone Luke."
He heard footsteps, people leaving.
People giving up he thought.
"I'll call your parents, Luke. You shouldn't have to go through this alone"
And then Katie was gone too.