Mark of Excellence

Chapter 5

“How could you be so careless?  When I’m with my colleagues, I’m becoming as welcome as the plague.  Even the nurses are sending dirty looks in my direction.  They cross to the far side of hallway if they spot me coming their way so we don’t cross paths.  No one says hello apart from Reid, who I can’t bear to face.”

Luke and Reid stood outside Mark and Noah’s door.  They couldn’t help overhearing the two argue as the window nearest the door was partially opened, probably due to the unusually warm spell that had hit Oakdale. 

“I didn’t realize that idiot of a writer would try to kiss up to me by making the article entirely about you and only you, as if no one else should take, or deserve, credit for the work done at the hospital.”  Noah seemed truly shocked and upset as the two onlookers saw him through the window, holding a rolled up magazine, presumably the offending medical journal.

“Reid,” Luke whispered.  “It sounds like he was as blindsided as the rest of us.”

Shaking his head, Reid squeezed Luke’s shoulder.  “Not the same as the rest of us.  Noah had the chance to proofread and approve the final edit but didn’t take it.  He made a foolish assumption and it’s now come back to bite everyone in town except Noah.”

“Doesn’t sound or look like he’s going to get away with anything.”

Luke and Reid heard Sammy starting to scream.  It was no surprise as Noah and Mark were loud enough to have been heard even if the window had been closed.

Seeing Noah toss the magazine onto the sofa and leave the room, Reid banged on the door, ignoring the doorbell and clearly taking his frustration out on the innocent structure.

Without knowing who was on the doorstep, Mark opened the door.  “Hey, hey, hey, what’s the big emergency?”  He froze in place when he saw Reid, with Luke close behind, walking across the threshold.  “I didn’t expect to see you here.”

Reid nodded.  “No shit.  Based on how you’ve been reacting every time I try to speak with you, I’m sure you would have packed up the family and moved before letting me in.”  Reid glanced at Luke.  Luke didn’t stop Reid’s caustic response, understanding his rightful frustration.  “What the hell is this about?  And if it’s about that ridiculous article, I want to know why the fuck you threw me, and the entire staff of Memorial under the proverbial bus rather than admit you aren’t Super-doctor.”

Planting himself on the sofa, Reid patted the cushion next to him inviting Luke to join him.  For the first time Luke looked directly at Mark.  “You might as well have a seat and explain what’s going on.  I get the feeling if you don’t we’ll be spending a very long time on your sofa.”

Mark looked from right to left, clearly feeling trapped.  Eventually, he lowered his head and sat in one of the armchairs opposite the sofa, the only thing separating him from Reid and Luke was the coffee table.  Mark pinched the bridge of his nose.  “I don’t even know what to say or where to begin.  I feel like such a fool.”

“On that fact we both agree.  Go with that feeling.” 

“Reid, don’t.”  Luke squeezed Reid’s knee.  “He’s talking; let him explain.”

“It’s okay, Luke.  I know where he’s coming from and I don’t blame Reid.  It’s just--”  Mark bit his lip.  “It’s just that I can’t seem to find the words to explain how this happened.”

“It’s okay, Mark.  It’s my screw up.  Don’t take the blame.”  Noah walked into the room carrying Sammy and his bottle.  “Here.”  Noah handed the baby to Mark.  “You feed him.  I’ll tell them what happened.”

Noah stared at his friends and remained silent.

“You need to talk to express yourself in this situation, Mr. Mayer.  I’m a genius but I’m not clairvoyant.”

“Reid, don’t go there.  The days when we were Mr. Mayer and Dr. Oliver are long past.  At least I had hoped they were.”

“That’s Dr. Oliver-Snyder to you.”

Luke was tempted to stop Reid’s taunting but decided to let this play out a bit longer.

“I deserve all your anger, but in my meager defense, I really didn’t mean for any of this to happen.  Without sounding too immodest, I didn’t realize this guy thought I had that much power in the film industry.”

“Neither did I.”  Reid deadpanned.

“I assume Luke told you how the writer got in touch with me.”  Noah glanced in Luke’s direction.

“On the way over here I filled Reid in on the enlightening lunch I had with Casey and all you inadvertently revealed.”

“This was supposed to be an article celebrating Memorial Hospital, while featuring the Neurology Wing.  It wasn’t supposed to feature Mark, and only Mark.”  Noah’s voice was weak and it almost sounded as if he was pleading with Reid to believe him.  “The stupidest thing I did with all of this was not insist on reading the final draft before it went to print.  I assumed if this guy wanted to impress me enough for me to recruit him for documentary work that he’d tell the story accurately, possibly adding a touch of the figurative glowing halo around the Neuro Wing.”

“So this is really all about some schmuck who thought he could get into documentary film work by impressing you by presenting your husband as the be and end all of the Neuro Wing, if not the whole hospital.”  Reid snorted.  “Nice job all around.”  Reid turned to look directly at Luke.  “Makes me glad you let me read all your scripts before sending them on their merry way, Luke.  At least I know there’s one film writer who sees things accurately.”  Reid stood and began to pace before continuing.  “Do you realize the damage and poor publicity your lack of judgment has caused the whole hospital?”  Reid glared at Noah.

“At least there’s nothing negative in the article.”  Noah took a step back as Reid stood up and glared in Noah’s direction.  Observing Reid closely, Luke wondered if he might actually resort to physical aggression.

“There’s nothing in the article that makes the hospital look good.  It makes it look like without Dr. Mark Jensen none of the achievements made at Memorial would have happened!” 

Mark returned to the room.  “Sammy fell back to sleep while drinking so I put him back in his crib.”

“Good thing, because I’m not sure I could censor my anger at this entire situation.”  Reid combed his hand through his hair and shook his head.  “Somehow, Noah, and I don’t know how, you have to make this right.  The entire staff feels betrayed and angry.  Hell, when Hank gets a glance at this it’ll look like he wasn’t even involved despite his huge initial donation.”

Luke watched as Reid couldn’t seem to stand still.  He wanted to do something to help him through this mess, but decided the best course of action would be to take very good care of him when they were alone in their bedroom later that night.

“And Chris.  Mark, you have to tell Chris what happened.  He thinks you and your husband tried to pull one over on him, making him look bad while Luke and I were away on vacation and he was left in charge.  He feels like a fool.  While there are times he deserves to feel that way, this sure as shit isn’t one of them.”  Reid turned back toward Noah.  “Noah, no matter what your good intentions, by dropping the ball, and not policing the actual article to its completion, you damaged years of hard work that went into building Memorial’s outstanding reputation.  Fix it!”

Reid grabbed Luke’s hand and pulled him off the sofa.  “Where are we going?”

“We’re going home.”  Reid turned to Mark.  “Make sure he fixes this quickly.  And don’t avoid me in the future, no matter what the problem.  We’ve been friends too long to deal with this kind of bullshit like children.”

Mark simply nodded, not able to argue with anything Reid stated.

“How can I fix this?”  Noah looked at everyone in the room, resting his eyes on Reid.  “It’s already in print.” 

“Figure it out.  You’re supposed to be some genius in the media world.  Now’s your chance to prove it.  Make this mess disappear.”

Before Noah or Mark could say anything else, including good-bye, Reid dragged Luke out the door, slamming it behind him.

[TBC]

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