Reid can hear voices talking vaguely. He knows he recognizes Luke's voice, which is terrified and laden with tears. He recognizes that he is drifting in and out of consciousness and wonders if his brain is swollen.
He doesn't remember much then, but he realizes he's in a different place now. He can hear more voices. This time he hears Dr. Bob Hughes calling for a gurney. The only thing Reid can think is,
If only I was someone else, so I could operate on myself.
Everything goes back then and the next thing he hears is,
"Reid, if you can hear me give me a sign, baby."
He can hear Luke and tries desperately to respond.
But nothing is happening. He is willing his brain to work with his limbs, hell even his eyes to blink.
People filter in and out of his room checking vitals, talking to him, poking and prodding him.
Damn, why did I have to get injured?
Then he feels his finger twitch and he gets excited.
He doesn't hear Luke anymore though and he figures he is passed out from exhaustion.
Then he hears Katie talking to him begging him to open his eyes, but he can't, despite his best efforts.
He's not sure how much time has passed now, but he's so tired of the darkness and the unwillingness of his brain to work with the rest of his body.
Then he feels a soft hand grab his and his fingers squeeze around the hand.
"Oh my God, Reid! You can hear me? Squeeze my hand again if you can hear me!"
So he does and Luke runs out of the room to find a doctor.
Then Doctor Hughes is in examining him and says that things look good.
Reid thinks to himself,
Could he be any vaguer?
Then he starts seeing flashes of light and he realizes that he is seeing the light in his room being turned on and off.
He yells at his brain then to open his eyes and he finally does.
Things are blurry and constantly changing focus, but he can see the outline of Luke curled up in a chair by his bed and Katie pacing at the end with Jacob in her arms.
He tries to say something but nothing comes out. Then he moves his hand against Luke's whose eyes open and he looks at Reid who staring into his eyes.
"Reid! You're awake!"
Katie immediately springs into action then and goes to get a doctor.
Chris Hughes walks in and Reid is irritated that the doctor to experience this miracle with him is Doogie Hughes.
"Good to see you are awake, Reid. You gave Katie and Luke quite a scare."
Reid finally finds his vocal chords and hoarsely whispers,
"Well, I couldn't give you the satisfaction of dying just yet, Doogie."
Chris laughs heartily at that and says,
"Good to see your lack of humor is still intact."
Chris gives him some water then and promises to check in later.
He usher's Katie out then.
Luke sits back down on the edge of Reid's bed and gently strokes his face,
"God, Reid. I thought I had lost you."
"Never, Luke. As long as I have breath in my body, I would fight to get back to you. I could hear you begging me to come back and I tried, but my body wouldn't work with my brain."
Luke's eyes were filled with tears and he reached down to gently kiss Reid.
"Don't ever do that to me again, Reid."
"So what happened? The last thing I remember was a car coming at me."
"Reid now is not the time to have this conversation."
"How bad could it be, Luke?"
"It was Mr. Judd, Reid. He snapped."
Reid closed his eyes then,
"Reid are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm just trying to process this. I'm sort of glad it was Judd. For a minute I thought it might be Noah getting his ultimate revenge."
"That's not even funny, Reid. Noah would never try to kill you."
"So how long was I out for?"
"Six days."
Dr. Bob Hughes came in then,
"So, how's our favorite patient doing?"
"Ready to get out of this bed."
"Well don't get too antsy just yet, Reid. You have quite a bit of recovery before you are going to be out of here."
"So, did I have any other injuries, besides the coma?"
"You have a broken left leg, and both your hands are broken."
Reid looked down then to see both of his hands in casts.
"What is the prognosis on my hands? Will I ever be able to operate again?"
"We're going to take it one day at a time, Reid. You'll start out with physical therapy and we'll see how well you do after the first few weeks.
He left then and Reid turned his head away from Luke. He could feel tears welling up and he hated being weak.
"Reid, look at me."
Reid refused to turn his head so Luke went over to the other side of the bed and held Reid's face in his hands,
"Reid, this is not the end of the world. Please, just take time to recover."
Reid's voice catches then,
"What if I can never operate again? I won't have anything or be anything than just a man."
"I'd still love you, Reid. You are more than what you do. You are more than your hands. You are the man I'm in love with."
Reid closes his eyes then and lets the tears slide down his cheeks. Luke climbed into bed next to him then and holds him.
