Part 5

The first thing Luke and Katie saw when they opened the door was a crowd of nurses all gathered around the door, waiting impatiently to hear the news. Was Doctor Oliver really awake? Did he talk? Did he remember what happened? Was he able to answer some basic questions? Was he suffering from amnesia? The questions wouldn't stop coming at them from every direction. It took Katie speaking in her stern voice to shut them up and allow them to place a word in between. They told them what they knew and each nurse then went back to work, asking Luke and Katie to tell to keep them inform of any important information. The surgery nurses were particularly adamant about that point. Dr. Oliver's situation had hit them hard. They felt personally involved in the situation because they had been the ones working with the doctor and not noticing something was wrong. Chris made various test for the rest of the day, asking Reid a bunch of questions to test his memory and cognitive process. Then, he had left Reid to his much needed sleep. He had explained to Katie and Luke that they shouldn't expect Reid to be awake for long periods of time for the next several days. The regiment Reid had lived under for the last two months had left him extremely weak. It was important to let him rest, and to not upset him or pressure him. This would be a long recovery and although he knew and understood that they both wanted to talk about these two months with Reid, right now he was not in a state favourable to serious discussions. He also warned them that Reid would most likely be in pain for a while due to the caffeine withdrawal and that if ever they thought they were starting a cold, they needed to stay away from Reid because his immune system was incredibly weak at the moment. It was a miracle that the other man hadn't caught anything yet. Chris Hughes was extremely grateful to Allison for transferring as many patients as possible to other doctors. No doubt that there were a couple of colds and flues in those cases and it was a very good thing Reid hadn't been exposed to them.

In the next two weeks, Katie and Luke alternated their visit to the hospital. When Katie was in the hospital with Reid, Luke was at her home taking care of Jacob (and missing Reid like crazy, but nobody needed to know that) and the day after, Luke was the one staying at Reid's side. Luke was pretty much living at Katie's now. The night after Reid had woken up had been very hard on the two friends. The excitement at seeing their friend awake had slowly faded with the awareness of what was to come. That night, Luke and Katie had stayed up, drinking coffee and talking about how they felt about the whole situation and remembering good moments with Reid. It was that night that Katie finally learned who put the moves on whom and when. She had to admit that a part of her had been surprised to know that Reid had been the first one to kiss the other. She explained to Luke that although Reid was overly confident when it came to his intelligence and talent as a doctor, he was incredibly insecure where emotions were involved. And beside, it was Luke that she had witness flirting and eye-sexing the other the most, a comment at which Luke Snyder became a very adorable shade of red. These nighttimes' discussions became a routine for the two friends, although they now did them in the evening instead of in the middle of the night. As a result, Luke almost always slept at Katie's nowadays. On the couch of course. Or so Luke had made Katie believed. In reality, he waited for Katie to have gone to sleep, to sneak into Reid's room and sleep in his bed, surrounded by Reid's soothing smell. What Luke didn't know, however, was that Katie was well aware of that little habit of his. Luke had forgotten that a baby woke up at odd hours of the night. Therefore, the first night Luke spent in Reid's room, when Jacob woke up his mother crying loud enough for the walkie-talkie to pick it up but not enough to wake up Luke, Katie had noticed Luke not being on the couch. And she had smiled when she had seen him sleeping in her roommate's bed (…and she had taken a picture….what? You had to admit it was too cute to miss! And it's not like she was going to post it on Facebook! Although…). She didn't mention anything to Luke though. She figured it was something the younger man wanted to keep private and respected that decision.

After two weeks, Reid's condition started to pick up much more quickly. His cheek were already less hallow than they had been and he was able to stay awake for a much longer amount of time now. However, when Reid's health started to pick up, so did his personality. Principally, it was his darn stubbornness that came back. But times 3, thanks to a really nice little thing called "withdrawal from caffeine addiction causing irritability in the subject». Not for the first time in the last few days, Luke Snyder found himself having an argument with Reid Oliver. That man was impossible! Chris had slowly started giving Reid some food. At first, Reid had to eat only small quantities because his stomach was unused to receiving big amounts of food, and would automatically reject the surplus. But now he was ready for larger meals, three times a day. However, the other man wouldn't hear anything of it and categorically refused to eat anything!

"Reid, you have to eat something. It's lunch time"

"So what? I'm not hungry. How many times do I have to tell you? Do you not understand the definition of hungry?" Oh yes and his sarcastic, snarky side had resurfaced too. It was just like old times. A little too much like old times actually. Luke was witnessing the resurgence of the Reid Oliver he had first met when the Doctor had arrived in Oakdale. And it was driving him nuts. Now don't misunderstand him. Luke loved Reid, jerk-like attitude included, but there was just a limit to what one could take and Luke was really close to reaching his.

"Yes Reid I understand what hungry means. But guess what? I understand what "he needs to eat three times a day to get better" means too. The doctor said you have to eat lunch from now on, so you'll eat lunch."

"I don't want to. Beside all the food you bring me taste horrible." Reid replied with a rather nasty tone.

Luke sighed in anger again. He was starting to have a headache.

"Reid you need to eat.."

"And I said I didn't want to eat. You should ask Doogie to check out your ears" Reid cut in.

"God! you're lucky I love you so much or I'd kill you right now!" Luke screamed at Reid angrily, not even noticing he had just told Reid he loved him for the first time.

"What?" Luke asked annoyed and confused at Reid's flabbergasted face. 'What?' Luke thought. He thought back on what he just said. What could have surprised Reid so much he…Ah.

"Ah yeah, well" Luke said blushing like crazy. "That wasn't exactly how I had wanted to tell you I loved you."

"No kidding"

"Well, I'll have you know Dr. Oliver that you don't exactly make it easy. You've been driving me nuts for days now"

"The door is right there. You could have used it" Luke glared murderously at Reid for that.

"I'm not leaving you Reid. You can't make me. So you can bitch all you want, I'm still staying right here with you where I belong. Clear?" Luke said in a hard voice. Reid didn't answer anything to that. Then Luke calmed down and started to think about what they had just said.

"Is that what you've been doing?" Luke asked "Have you been testing me? Seeing how far you can push before I leave?" Reid looking away from him told him everything.

"Well that was stupid Reid. I'm not leaving. No matter what you do, no matter how you act, I will not leave you"

"I'm starting to see that" whispered Reid.

"Gosh. I can't believe you've been acting like a jerk on purpose!"

"Tired of me yet?"

Luke looked at Reid in the eyes before answering "Never". Reid gulped. The emotions in Luke's eyes were too intense to look at.

"Although I am more than a little irritated with you right now" Reid smiled

"Good" He said "You're cute when you're frustrated" Now it was Luke's turn to smile.

"Oh really ?" Luke asked coyly.

He never got an answer though as the door swung open and in came Allison Stewart.

"Hey!"

"Hey Alli!" said Luke "making your rounds?"

"Not quite. I heard you've been complaining about the food they bring you from the cafeteria, " said Allison as she sat on Reid's bed and took a brown paper bag out. "So I figured I'd bring you your favourites to munch on. Triple chocolate and marshmallow granola bar, cranberry-raspberry yogurt, carrot and cinnamon cake and of course two green apples. " Allison said as she took each item out of the bag. "You always seemed to eat those right away when you saw them, so I figured you liked them a lot and it would cheer you up after having to eat hospital food. I didn't have any home-made plum pudding though, sorry."

Allison gave a smile. Luke for his part looked at Allison with a confused expression. He didn't really understand what Allison was doing or why? And how did she know that Reid ate any of those. Plus they weren't particularly healthy, although eating that was much better than not eating at all. Reid for his part looked at Allison with a shock look, as if he had never seen her before.

"You…" started Reid. "You were the one leaving me all these snacks in my office?"

"Well…" Allison started rather embarrassed. "When I got that stomach flu, I couldn't eat anything and didn't go to lunch. I noticed that you hadn't taken a lunch break on those days either. You were already working so much, skipping meals was a bad idea. I figured that the problem with eating was that it took too much of your time so I thought I'd leave food on your desk so you could eat at the same time as writing your reports." Reid didn't know how to react to that new information and Luke completing it didn't make matters any easier.

"I didn't know about the food, but I know Alli really looked out for you Reid. She tried to talk to Bob many times about you, and Katie told me how Alli would transfer as many non-surgery related cases unto other doctors so you could take a breather."

"But it wasn't enough. I should have done more. I…"

"Hey" Reid interrupted, taking Allison's hand in his "What happened is not your fault. What happened…I…I appreciate what you've done for me. But I'm a grown man. I take my own decisions and in this case, it was a stupid decision and I made very stupid actions. But they were mine to make and you couldn't have stopped me Miss Stewart. You had the possibility to help me though and you did. Those snacks you gave me and the naps I was able to take here and there apparently thanks to you, they helped a lot. So thank you. I appreciate it" Reid spoke slowly. It was apparent that this speech was hard for him to say. Luke knew that Reid wasn't used to people doing things for him for no other reason than because they wanted to and cared about him, and as such, he was very unused to saying thanks.

Allison squeezed his hand. "I'm glad you're doing better . The surgery wing really isn't the same without you."

"Pff. Please. People must be dancing in joy at not having to see me"

"Reid you know that's not true"said Luke, but Allison stopped him from saying more by raising her hand. She stood up and went to pick up the bag she had left close to the doors.

"If that is true , then can you explain why the other nurses gave me the job of handing these to you once you were better?" Allison asked as she took out a huge pile of cards of different sizes, some of them very big. Some of them were obviously handmade while others had been bought. "Every single nurse who has ever worked with you send you at least one card." Reid looked at the pile now sitting on his legs. He was completely speechless. Reid knew perfectly well that he was a very hard man to deal with yet there were so many of them.

"You're strict and hard and sometimes we call you a slave-driver. You make comments about our competence and our intelligence and they're not exactly flattering. But under that socially-inept mask of yours, there's a really good guy that, although we complain about him quite often, we like working under. You're honest, and although sometimes you insult us, you trust us with more responsibilities than any other doctor in this hospital. You have never looked at us as if nurses were less important than doctors. Ever. You're different and that's refreshing. At least with you we're never bored. And as much as we don't like being the one under your fire, we all admit it's pretty entertaining to look at. One nurse even wrote that she wished she had popcorn so she could sit back and enjoy the show when you go on one of your rants!" For the first time since being admitted to the hospital, Reid Oliver genuinely smiled. "We care about you Dr. Oliver and we want you back. Like I said, it's really not the same without you. Other staff members find us crazy to miss you, but we do. So please get well soon. Things are so boring without someone to bitch about during our hour long lunch break" Allison added, with a jokingly tone before she left to go do her rounds.

Reid looked at all the cards once more. "There quite a lot of them. Surprised?" Luke asked

"Well yeah actually" Reid said picking up the granola bar Allison had brought him and started eating it.

"I'm not"

"Pff. Of course you're not. You think the best of people. And as much as you've been complaining about me these last days, you're still the one who has seen the best parts of me" Reid said in between bites. He then picked up an apple. Green apples were his favourite.

"Well actually, the reason I'm not surprised is because I saw how the nurses reacted when you were in the coma." Reid looked at him, curious. "They all dropped everything to come here and sat on the chairs facing this room and waited. They waited for hours holding each others hands, comforting each other, especially Allison who was taking it really badly, and telling each other stories about you, laughing sadly as they remembered you. It was a bombshell on them Reid. They were worried. They may not like you sometimes because of your attitude, but they do care about you. You grew on them, horrible social skills and all."

"That was very nice of them" Reid said, picking up a card and starting to read it. It made him laugh.

"What?" said Luke

"There's a business card in it"

"Whose?"

"Mine" Luke looked at him confused.

"Reid Oliver: master of verbal judo, sarcasm and insults. According to this nurse, I should open an Anti-Hallmark card shop specializing in particularly nasty break-up cards for cheating partners and offer my services, using this business card, as an Anti-Cyrano De Bergerac"

"Uh. Now I get why they miss you so much. They're as crazy and weird as you are!" said Luke, laughing along with Reid. It was good to see him so relaxed and enjoying himself again. Luke made a mental note to thank Allison the next time he saw her.

Bob Hughes was a well-liked, well-respected man. As such, he was used to smiling faces surrounding him. His wife loved him dearly and his staff appreciated and respected him. Recently however, things had been much different. By the time Luke Snyder stood before him, accusing him of causing Reid Oliver's state, Kim had already voiced her dislike at the idea of selling the hospital to a big corporation and her disappointment in him for not retracting his ultimatum to (who she said had finally started acting like a reasonable human being thanks to Luke Snyder) several times. He had been, however, rather successful at avoiding her and those two months had been rather good, though incredibly busy with the potential selling of Memorial. Now, however, things were much different. For one, he found himself wishing for Kim to scream at him. After Luke Snyder had returned at Reid's bedside, his wife at looked at him with more anger, and disappointment that he had ever seen before, had shaken her head and left without saying a word. For the last two weeks, Kim Hughes had not said a single word nor looked a single time at her husband. She gave Bob Hughes a whole new definition of the words "cold shoulder". The atmosphere at home was glacial. Kim spent as much time away as she could, relying on their son Chris to relay important messages to her husband. And things at Memorials weren't much better. While most of the doctors were still as respectful as before, some of them seemed to be a little more distant nowadays, like they had put a barrier between Bob and them. But generally, things with the doctors were just fine. The nurses were his major problem. The entirety of the nurse staff did everything they could to not work with him. They also gave him the cold shoulder much like Kim. They ignored him when they could, and spoke to him monotonously instead of with their usual enthusiasm. The surgery nurses however were another story. Never in his life had Bob Hughes seen such murderous glares directed at him. These nurses categorically refused to have anything to do with him. He was forbidden from even stepping one foot in their department. He had tried once and it hadn't turned out well.

When Bob had first tried to visit the surgery department after Reid's hospitalization, he was greeted by four nurses coming to stand in front of him, arms crossed on their chest, glaring at him and telling him that he had no business there and they wanted him to leave. He had tried to reason with them but was told "We are nurses. Our job is to heal patient at the best of our capabilities. We know what's best for our patients Dr. Hughes and you're the opposite of that for everyone. Take your destructive ambitions elsewhere. We don't want or need your shit (that word had surprised Bob). We have plenty of other doctors to work with without needing the likes of you (anger and disgust were dripping from these last words) You want to come here? Well we want to come back here and push us to work harder. Wewant to hear his sarcasm and witness his miracles. We want to bitch about his latest irritating behaviour in the cafeteria. But we can't get what we want all the time, can we? You want to come back in this wing Dr. Hughes? Take it up with once he's back on duty. Until then, you stay the hell away from us and let us do our job. Once our doctor is back, we'll see if he's capable of convincing us to change our minds."

Bob had then gone to his son and had asked him to deal with the situation. The answer he had received hadn't been what he had hoped for. "Sorry Dad, but they're not going to listen to me. These nurses have closed down their ranks. One of their own was slighted and they're ready to go to bat for him against the one who caused this. I've tried to talk with them and so have other doctors, but it's useless. These nurses have decided that from now on they were Reid Oliver's nurses. They won't take orders from anyone but him. It doesn't stop them from doing a good job. Actually their performance is as good as ever. Allison told me that every day a new nurse takes on the role of slave-driver that Reid left behind and pushes the others to work hard so that when Reid comes back, the department will be as if he had never left. I know their cold attitude is a little hard to deal with, but there's nothing we can do about it. Reid is still in a bad shape. They're worried for him and so long as they don't see him well, I don't think any of them are going to be much pleasant to be around with. They still treat the patients as well as ever though. They're professional….but pissed off. Just stay away from them ok. Let me deal with their department."

"I just don't understand why they are acting this way"

"Well I admit, a month ago I would have been shocked at the nurses' reaction to Reid's sickness, but now I'm not because when I found out how much he had worked, how bad his condition was, I reacted strongly too. I was very worried about Reid, Dad. I still am yet I don't like the guy and have seldom worked with him. These women spent a lot of time with him. Plus, it doesn't help that they all think you were acting like the most inconsiderate douche of all times when you gave that stupid ultimatum."

"It wasn't stupid"

" Dad. When you're wife, son, and colleagues all think one of your decision was stupid and unnecessary, it's because your decision was stupid and unnecessary. Reid has one of the longest stick ever up his ass when it comes to professionalism. I have never seen someone able to compartmentalize his personal and professional life as well as he can. Nor have I see someone speak his mind without any fear of hurting someone's feelings like he does. Trust me. Luke's ideas would not have been given more chances just because he'd be dating Reid. For Reid, a stupid idea is a stupid idea even if it comes from his boyfriend. Why do you think the guy was single for so long?"

And so, the situation with the surgery nurses had stayed the same and Bob was left with a good amount of people mad at him because of his ultimatum. In the last two months, although Bob had felt bad after the very first discussion he had had with Kim, he had still chosen not to retract what he had said and had been convinced it was for the best. Now however, it was becoming harder and harder to remember what his original arguments had been. In the last two weeks, Bob had put his head in the sand and had ignored the issue at hand. But now he had decided to confront all of the facts. Looking at Reid's medical file was one of the most difficult things he had done in a long time. Bob Hughes cared about his doctors and he had always seen himself as some sort of mentor. When this arrogant Texan doctor had arrived in Oakdale, Bob had taken him under his wing, determined to help the younger man discover what was truly important in life: family, friends, having a personal life... And in the months since Reid Oliver had arrived, he had seen the younger doctor soften around the edges and slowly open up to certain people. And Bob had been happy about it. He had been proud of Reid for becoming less cold. He had had great hopes both professionally and personally for Reid. And yet, he had gone against everything he had preached and asked Reid to give up his personal life. Of course at the time, he hadn't seen it that way. He had seen it as the right, ethical thing to do and as giving up one love interest. But it was more than a love interest. Reid didn't like Luke Snyder. Reid was full blown in love with Luke Snyder, something Bob had failed to see. Giving up a relationship that is just starting and giving up the man you love are two different things. Plus, Bob had failed to take into account how much Luke had had influence on Reid starting to get a personal life in the first place. He hadn't known that all the positive changes in Reid had been mostly due to Luke. And when he had lost Luke, Reid had fallen back on the only thing left for him: his work. And as he looked at Reid's test results, he knew that he had been a blind old fool. And now, Bob Hughes wasn't sure how to rectify the situation. He knew that Reid had trusted him before, and he must have felt betrayed by him. He didn't know how to make things right, but he needed to find a way. If he didn't, Bob Hughes and Memorial would lose the best doctor they had ever seen. Luke Snyder would make sure of that.

AN: Finally part 5 is finished! Dear lord it's 3:30 am! I'm so dead tired, but I'm so stubborn! I wanted to finish this chap so bad. If only the theatre play hadn't finished so late (it was excellent however. The only light on the stage came from 2000 candles! Well actually about 1000 before the intermission and 1000 afterwards 'cause candles melt) Argh, I just had to be stubborn and finish this. Up to bed I go. Chap 6 will come….hopefully tomorrow night? Or Monday. Thanks for reading!