Once out of the elevator, Luke walked over to the nurses' station.
"Hi, can you tell me if Dr. Reid Oliver is working today?"
"Yes, he should be out of surgery in about a half an hour," the nurse said. "You may wait in the waiting room for him if you like. Can I take your name?"
"Luke Snyder. Thanks." Luke turned around and went to the waiting room.
As he was sitting, Luke looked around and thought how much the neurology floor looked liked the wing he and Reid had built together and Oakdale Memorial so many years ago.
So this is where he came from, Luke thought to himself. No wonder he didn't like Memorial.
Luke sat watching the other people in the waiting room. There were only three people – a couple and a lone man – but they all looked tired and anxious and worried and harried at the same time, waiting for news of their loved ones. He wondered how many of those surrounding him had family members who were patients of Reid.
Luke noticed that table next to which he sat had a pile of medical magazines on it. As he searched through them, he came across one on which Reid graced the cover. Luke smiled slightly and picked it up. Tattooed across Reid's chest, the headline read Number one neurosurgeon performs miracle surgery.
How this must have fed his ego. Luke smiled at the thought. He flipped open the magazine and began reading the article. As he was coming to the end, Luke heard a voice and his head snapped up.
"Mr. Harper. Mrs. Harper." Reid had come to talk to his patient's family.
"Dr. Oliver!" said the nervous, harried woman whom Reid had addressed. "How's Julie?"
"She's in recovery. She made it through the surgery fine. I was able to remove the tumor. There shouldn't be any brain damage, but we will have to wait until she wakes up just to make sure," Reid said. He had not noticed Luke who was staring at him, smiling.
"Oh!" the woman exclaimed. In her happiness, she pounced on Reid and embraced him very tightly. "Thank you. Thank you for saving my daughter."
Reid patted the woman awkwardly on the back, but Luke noticed that there was a slight smile on his face as he pulled away.
"Can we see her?" the man asked. Reid nodded and summoned a nurse.
"Carmen, please take Mr. and Mrs. Harper to recovery to see their daughter," Reid said. Luke registered the kindness with which Reid treated both the parents of his patient and the nurse.
When Carmen and Mr. and Mrs. Harper had left the room, only the man and Luke were left. Reid, who moved to leave the waiting area, had still not realized that Luke was there, so Luke stood up and said, "Reid."
Reid stopped dead in his tracks and then turned around.
"Hi," Luke said, smiling and walking over to him.
Reid stared at him blankly for a few seconds and then said, "Mr. Snyder. Have you come here to kidnap me again? Because this time I'm not going to give in to your antics." He turned around and went into the hallway. Luke followed.
"No. I'm not here to kidnap you. I just came to see how you were doing." Reid closed in eyes and clenched his teeth, but his back was to Luke who saw nothing.
"You took your corporate jet just to see how I am after three years? Well, I'm perfectly fine, Mr. Snyder. You've seen me. Are you satisfied? Will you let me get back to work? I have patients waiting for me," Reid said brusquely.
Luke furrowed his brow. "Actually, I'm here with Noah." Luke hesitated. "He has a film festival."
"Well, isn't that good for him."
"I was thinking that maybe we could talk," Luke said, following Reid who had walked away towards his office.
"I'm kind of busy at the moment," Reid said, pushing open the door.
"Well, we'll be here for a week. And Noah's going to be busy with the festival. Maybe we could get something to eat sometime and catch up?"
"I don't do catch up. Catching up is for sentimental fools and mentally unstable housewives. As you can see, I am alive and well. That's all you need to know," Reid said.
Luke glared at him. "Fine. I just thought it would be nice to hear what you've been doing since you left Oakdale," Luke said, crossing his arms across his chest.
"Why do you care?" Reid asked unceremoniously.
"Because the last time I saw you, you pretended that you were fine, but I knew you weren't. And then a week later you came back here. I wanted to know how'd you been since then. But I can see you obviously have no desire to do that. So I'll just go," Luke said, turning around and going back into the hallway.
It was only a few seconds before Reid followed him and said, "Tomorrow at noon at Local."
Luke turned around and smiled at Reid. "See you then." And he left.