Headaches
Chapter 10
Reid spotted Chris the minute he entered the ER. As expected on a weeknight, the department wasn’t particularly busy.
Approaching the group, Chris didn’t even try to remove Bobby from Reid’s arms. “Mark, are you here for moral support or is there something I should be alerted about?”
“In the interest of safety, I drove.”
Chris nodded. “I’ve cleared a private space in the pediatric section. Follow me.”
Placing Bobby in the crib, one specially designed for hospital use, Reid turned toward Luke for the first time since they had arrived at Memorial. Standing at the entrance to their little curtained off “room”, Luke stared in Bobby’s direction, never taking his eyes off the activity.
Moving close to Luke’s side, Reid could feel the tremors running through his husband’s body. “Luke.”
When he got no response, Reid put his arm around Luke’s waist. He soon felt Luke’s weight leaning. Reid realized his husband’s knees were buckling.
“Mark, get me a chair!”
Acting quickly, Mark grabbed a small chair from the corner and ran it over just in time for Reid to settle Luke into it. Mark quickly sprang into action and did a cursory exam of Luke’s eyes, then took his pulse. “Luke, are you okay now?”
“Yes, I’m fine. Maybe a little water would help.”
Reid spotted a nurse walking by with a pile of fresh linen, clearly doing nothing of consequence. “You!”
The nurse spun around. “Dr. Oliver-Snyder, I didn’t realize you were in the ER tonight.”
“I’m not, my son is.” Reid tilted his head in Chris’ direction, unable to see Bobby as his friend and colleague continued his complete exam.
Nurse whatever-her-name-is glanced toward the crib. “What can I help you with, doctor?”
“Put that pile of fluff down somewhere and get Luke a glass of water.”
“Yes, sir, I’ll be right back.”
Luke looked up at Reid. “You didn’t have to bark at her. I can wait for the water.”
“It’s her job and I’m her boss. Besides, this way I can focus on our son.”
“Reid, I’ll be fine here. Please go see what’s happening with Bobby. He has to be okay. It hurts too much to imagine anything else.”
Mark looked at Reid. “I’ll stay back here with Luke. You go see if Chris has any ideas.”
Bobby looked so tiny in the big crib. Lowering the side opposite where Chris was finishing his examination, Reid rubbed the child’s stomach. He was still amazed at how much he could love the little guy. Bobby had more and more strands of blond hair filling in every day and his big brown eyes were already more expressive than Reid thought possible for an infant. It was becoming abundantly obvious this child had Luke’s DNA. Faith had shown Reid baby pictures of her older brother after the twins’ christening. Their little boy was the spitting image of the baby in the old family pictures. He was determined not to play favorites, but it would be hard. Anyone who was a part of Luke had a leg up on the rest.
“Reid, Luke, I’d like to speak with you.”
“Chris, his fever?” Luke’s eyes were wide, still filled with panic and concern.
“I’ve sent blood work to the lab. Now that it’s been drawn I’ve ordered an infant dose of pain reliever.”
“So what is it and what are you testing for?” Reid didn’t want to skirt around the issues. He needed to know if his own suspicions were correct.
“My guess is he’s unfortunately contracted a virus and is still too young to fight it off as most older children might. If that’s the case, since I know you’ll be with him, Reid, I’d be comfortable sending him home with instructions, including keeping him a distance from his sister.”
“Chris, stop beating around the damn bush. What’s the blood work for?”
Mark stepped closer to Reid. “Calm down. We both know what he’s going to say; let him say it in his own way -- especially for Luke.”
Reid nodded and remained silent.
“The blood work was drawn to rule out meningitis. I don’t think a spinal tap will be necessary and I can confirm this with specific results when I get them.”
Luke gasped, grabbing Reid’s hand and gripping tightly.
“I don’t think that’s what we’re dealing with, but I wouldn’t be doing my job if after examining him, I didn’t make sure he was all clear.”
Finding his voice, Luke spoke up. “You don’t think that’s what it is? I really need to know the truth, Chris. I need to know.”
“No, Luke, I don’t think the test will be positive. In fact, I’m pretty sure when we get the blood work back, you’ll be bundling Bobby up and taking him home.”
Letting out a breath, Luke stood up. “Reid, I need some air and I want to call Noah and see how things are at home.”
“Do you want me to come with you?” Reid was surprised Luke was willing to leave the baby’s side.
“Chris, how long until we get any conclusive results?”
“I’d say about two hours, maybe a little less.”
Luke kissed Reid soundly on the lips. “I need a little space. I’ll be okay if I know you’re with Bobby.”
Reid’s brow furrowed. He didn’t know what to make of Luke’s desire to leave. “I don’t want you to be alone.”
Luke huffed. “I need to know you’re with our son.” Luke looked directly at Mark. “Care to go for a walk?”
Looking at Reid, Mark shrugged.
“Go with him. Please don’t leave him. I’ll call if we get any news earlier rather than later.” Mark patted Reid’s arm and nodded.
“Let’s go for a walk, Luke.”
Watching the two leave, Reid felt a chill run up his spine. He dragged the chair Luke had been sitting in alongside the crib. Keeping the side down, he continued to rub the baby’s stomach, noticing his skin was now cooler to the touch.
Bobby made soft cooing noises in his sleep, and when Reid allowed his finger to brush against the infant’s hand, the baby wrapped his little hand automatically around his father’s offered finger.
Less than an hour later, Reid felt his cell phone vibrate. He looked at the caller ID, and quickly answered. “Mark, is everything okay?”
“Everything’s fine at your place. Luke called and we both spoke to Noah. He told Ethan what happened and the kid is watching TV with Noah, waiting to hear about his little brother before he can truly fall asleep.”
“That’s fine. Where are you?”
“Your husband is channeling his stress in a very interesting way.”
Reid raised his eyebrows. “Oh really?”
“We walked a few blocks at breakneck speed. I followed him into an apartment building where, the next thing I know, Luke is reading his older brother and Allison the riot act about caring about people. I think all the stress about Ethan and Bobby, and reliving his alcoholic past earlier this evening caught up with him. He let out exactly what he thought about those two dumping Andy on Casey and Jason.”
“Holy shit.” Reid tried to keep his voice down since he didn’t want to startle the baby next to him.
“He reminded Aaron about all he’d been through and told Allison if she ever plans on being a compassionate doctor she should start by practicing that compassion at home. Then he told her to take care of his soon-to-be niece or nephew and blasted out of their house. He can pack quite a verbal punch when he wants to.”
“Yeah, he can.” Reid allowed a grin to spread across his face imagining Luke’s temper released on his two unsuspecting, yet deserving, victims. “Sounds like he let off steam in a productive way. Only Luke would channel negative energy to help a kid he’s barely met.”
“My guess is he thinks it’ll have a roll-over effect on Ethan, Casey, Jason, Aaron, and others he loves. We all know what motivates Luke.”
Reid chuckled. “Yeah, we do. Hey, Chris is walking in with a lab report in his hand. Get Luke back here.”
“We’ll be walking in shortly.”
Disconnecting the phone, Reid stood up, never breaking contact with Bobby.
Chris’ serious expression morphed into a huge smile. “Looks like the diapering will be your responsibility tonight, doctor. No need to tax Memorial with an unnecessary admission.” He held up the report for Reid to see. “Nothing abnormal whatsoever.”
Rolling his lips inward, Reid turned to look at his sleeping son. “Thank you, Chris.”
“Just doing what you pay me for.”
“And I probably pay you too much.” Reid looked directly at Chris and shook his head. “I probably don’t pay you enough, but I’ll never admit that with a witness in the room.”
“I’ll have to consider wiretapping during my next salary negotiation.” Chris chuckled. “Now let’s get this youngster ready to go home. I do want to check him one more time to make sure he won’t worry his parents any further.”
Luke ran into the pediatric ER with Mark close behind. “Why’s Chris with him? Oh God! Is he really sick?”
“Nope, Bobby’s having his exit exam before he’s discharged. We’re all going home with a bottle of baby Tylenol and instructions to keep the twins apart for a couple of days.”
“He’s okay? Really?” For the first time since all of the fear and panic over Bobby’s fever began, Luke’s eyes turned red and welled with tears.
Reid wrapped his arms around Luke and the two embraced. “Everything’s okay, Luke.”
“I love him so much. I got so emotional I may have just done something foolish.”
“I doubt that, Luke. My guess is, whatever you did will have a beneficial snowball effect. It always does.”
Luke sniffled a bit, resting his head against Reid’s shoulder until Chris announced it was time to dress their son and take him home.
[TBC]