NOTE: This story is based on the events described in a couple of spoilers for the week of May 3rd, so if you don't want to know any spoilers, wait until later to read this!
There are a lot of things in this world that Dr. Reid Oliver doesn't like, including small talk and civility for starters, but there are very few things that he could say with true sincerity that he hated, and failure was certainly one of those things. Even more than failure, Dr. Oliver hated when that failure was unnecessary, when he should have been able to succeed without any problems, and yet something still went wrong; much like the present and dramatic situation surrounding his patient Noah Mayer.
While this was far from routine surgery it was still an operation that Dr. Oliver had performed countless times and with great success. He was confident when he walked into that operating room and began to work on the man who had unexpectedly come to play such a large role in his life. He kept his mind cleared, focusing only on the surgery at hand and refusing to let his mind drift back to only a short while ago when to say he was distracted would have been an understatement. He'd left Noah's room with Luke inside, each step painfully forcing him further from the blond who seemed to consume his thoughts and closer to the more urgent matter at hand. He'd changed, scrubbed, meditated, and scrubbed again, prepping his surgical team with typical Dr. Oliver ferocity and snarkiness. He knew that none of them liked him, but they were all quite talented at their jobs, and for that they could at least respect each other.
Through most of the taxing operation things had gone smoothly. He'd actually been coming toward the final lap of the procedure when suddenly Noah took a turn for the worst. He hadn't noticed some initial bleeding that was now making it difficult for him to see what he was doing. Refusing to panic he'd ordered his staff to help manage the problem, demanding suction of the blood, knowing they needed to get it patched up before brain damage became the problem. His team worked remarkably well and they were able to get things under control quickly, but Dr. Oliver felt his confidence level take a sudden dip, realizing that there was still a chance that something had gone terribly wrong.
He finished up and prepared Noah for recovery. Watching as they rolled the gurney out of the OR, Dr. Oliver found himself practically shaking. He cleaned up, changed clothes, and headed out into the main corridor. Another doctor had been keeping Luke up to speed with what was happening, and while Reid knew he should have told Luke himself, he just couldn't bring himself to share the bad news. Slipping off to the side he grabbed up another clipboard with Noah's paperwork, reviewing it frantically as if trying to find something that could have prepared him for everything that happened. As he violently turned the pages, pressing his lips together and attempting to stay calm, he was shocked out of his state by the sound of hurried footsteps moving toward him. He looked up, trying to hide the horror on his face as Luke came marching at him with more fear and anger than Reid had ever seen in him before.
"What happened?" the blond yelled and Reid could feel himself cowering. He opened his mouth but couldn't find the words, a real first for him. "What happened?" Luke demanded again with even more ferocity than before. Reid gulped, willing his usually stable hands not to shake.
"There were complications," Reid began as evenly as he could manage, before rambling into some medical jargon that Luke couldn't care less about. Reid couldn't help it, he was the most confident when it came to medicine, and if reciting a text book explanation back to Luke would keep him calm, that's what he had to do. Luke, though, wasn't taking it well. The blond made a fist and shook his head.
"Don't feed me this crap ! I want you to talk to me like someone who gives a crap about Noah, you selfish son of a bitch!"
Luke's parents, Lily and Holden, had come with him, standing in the background as the tense scene took place and interfering only when Luke instinctively lunged at Reid, forcing Holden to grab his son by the shoulders. Reid stared at him, amazed by how worn and tired he looked and wondering if his own appearance was similar, for he certainly felt as retched as Luke looked.
"What have you done?" Luke said with a tone so harsh and cold, lips so tightly held together, that Reid wasn't sure he could take it anymore. So far he'd stood in silence, watching the man he'd come to care about look at him with such obvious hate. His hands continued to shake before finally he snapped.
Slamming the clipboard onto the cart beside him, Reid held up a hand and pointed his finger in Luke's face, just as Luke had done to him moments before.
"I did everything I possibly could!" he shouted, completely uninterested in their slowly growing audience. "I've told you before, sometimes things go wrong, and not even I can do anything about that, but I did everything right and I handled the problem better than anyone else could have. If you think for one second that I didn't do everything I could to help Noah then you don't know a damn thing about me."
One thing Reid and Luke had in common was the ability to form with their lips a line so thin you would swear they didn't have a mouth at all. Anger swelled in both of them, Holden's presence being the only thing that was holding them back from tearing at each other.
A few more people had stopped at the sight of their verbal banter, including Bob Hughes, who came up beside Dr. Oliver and put a hand on his shoulder, which Reid instantly shrugged away.
"Do not touch me," Dr. Oliver hissed.
"That's enough, Dr. Oliver," Bob began, his authority obvious. "This is not the time nor the place."
Reid continued to lock eyes with Luke.
"I said that's enough, Dr. Oliver," Bob continued, but Reid didn't move. "That's it, out, now, you can go cool off in your office," he ordered, standing taller and reminding everyone why he was the Chief of Staff.
"I'm not going anywhere, not until my patient wakes up," Reid argued back, which wouldn't have been a problem if he hadn't said it in an even more rude tone than usual.
"He's bound to be out for a while and we have other doctors who can keep an eye on him until he does wake up, and we'll page you as soon as that happens."
"I'm not leaving here until I know that Noah…" Reid began, but Bob cut him off.
"I am not taking no for an answer, now you can just get out of this hospital right now. I mean it, Dr. Oliver, I want you out now or you'll give me no choice but to suspend you."
Dr. Oliver stared at Luke, sweat forming on his face. He heaved a heavy and angry sigh before shoving past them, knocking a file box off a cart on his way down the hall. Bob sighed as the doctor stormed out of sight. Holden finally released Luke, who was stiff as stone, standing with his arms crossed and looking around without focusing on anything.
"It's alright son, I'm sure he's alright," Bob Hughes said, putting a comforting hand on Luke's shoulder. "We don't know more until he wakes up, you should go home and try to calm down," he said, but Luke, to no one's surprise, instantly protested.
"I'm not going anywhere until…" he began, but just like with Reid, Bob cut him off, holding up a hand.
"I don't want to hear it. It will be a while before Noah wakes up, we're keeping him out for a while longer to give him more time to heal. You're not doing him any good just waiting around here. You and Dr. Oliver will be the first to know when he does wake up," Bob explained. "Holden, Lily, please see that he gets out of here." Bob smiled sympathetically.
Everyone else left, leaving Luke and his parents alone in the hall. His mother wrapped her arms around her son's shoulders, his father standing close as well. Luke's eyes were swelling with tears, pure grief written all over his face.
"Noah is going to be fine, you'll see," Lily said, trying to smile and sound as optimistic as she could manage. Holden said nothing, clapping his son on the shoulder and helping to lead his family out of the hospital.