Due to CBS Sports coverage of the US Open tennis tournament, CBS preempted its usual daytime lineup and no episode of As the World Turns was shown today. This programming change was planned for, and there will be no "lost" episodes as a result
Regular programming will resume on Tuesday, September 7, and pick up where the Friday, September 3 episode concluded.
Katie sat by Chris's hospital bed as he awoke. He had been dreaming about her, and he asked if John Dixon had successfully implanted the heart pump in his chest. Katie had to tell Chris that the doctor had not been able to do the operation because Chris was just not strong enough. Then Katie threatened the patient if he dared to give up hope.
Out in the hall, Bob asked John how long Chris would live in his present condition, and John answered that they needed a suitable heart donor match within 24 hours. John's pager beeped, so he excused himself, and Bob went try to convince Kim to go home. She refused to leave, so they both went in to visit Chris, who still had Katie with him. Bob finally persuaded Kim to get something to eat, and Alison offered to accompany her. Kim was pleased that Alison and Casey had made their engagement official, and she admired Nancy's ring on the girl's finger. She also said she felt very blessed, also, that Katie had stepped up to support Chris.
At the Oakdale police station, Tom and Margo talked about how Tom had arranged for the donor heart at Bay City, and he was quite proud of himself. Margo, however, read her phone messages and was shocked to read that John Dixon had called to report that the Bay City heart was no longer an option for Chris. Then Margo answered her phone and was shocked to learn news of a terrible accident from the chief of police of Bay City. She and Tom got in their car and drove to the site of the accident on the railroad tracks outside Bay City.
Luke, Casey, and Alison discussed the secret they all shared: that Reid Oliver had gone to Bay City to retrieve the donor heart himself. Alison wanted to give a little hope to Bob and Kim, and Luke finally agreed. He walked over to them and said that Reid was on his way to Bay City to lobby the surgeon who had blocked the donation for Chris. Bob talked about having hope again for his son, as Tom and Margo arrived looking very disturbed. Bob realized there was something wrong, so Margo told him there had been a horrendous accident.
Margo explained that Reid Oliver's car had stalled on the railroad tracks while he was on his way to Bay City, and the train had hit him before Reid could scramble out. The doctor was barely alive and was en route to Memorial by ambulance. Bob approached Casey and Luke and ordered them to go to the cafeteria to look for Kim and Alison, but the EMT's wheeled Reid through the corridor before the boys had left. Luke recognized Reid and called out his name, but Bob prevented the boy from following the gurney. Instead, Bob went to check on the doctor and then reported back to Luke that Reid's injuries were "beyond repair."
Luke ran to the emergency room where Reid was and was frantic that no one was "doing a damn thing" to save him. Bob allowed him entrance, and Luke saw a mortally wounded Dr. Oliver. Reid consoled his friend, who haltingly made it known that Luke should get his wallet. A nurse handed over Reid's personal effects, and Luke took out the billfold and looked through it. He noted all the credit cards and then saw Reid's driver's license. On the back it stated that the man was an organ donor. Luke began to sob and tried to tell Reid that he wasn't donating any organs any time soon, but Reid whispered, "Now, I need a lawyer now."
Luke ran outside and grabbed Tom Hughes and took him back to the emergency room. Tom asked how he could help, so Reid sputtered that he wanted Luke to have his durable power of attorney." Then Reid said, "Heart," and Tom realized that the man was giving his heart to Chris. "Who knew I had one to give?" joked Reid, as Luke said how much he loved Reid, and Reid's monitor flatlined.
Bob and John pronounced Reid dead, while they kept his heart beating in preparation for a possible transplant. Luke fought the idea, while Tom reminded him that Reid still had one patient he had to help. John spoke up and announced to everyone that there were tests to be run for tissue compatibility, plus all sorts of legal ramifications. Tom said he had legal authority based on Reid's deathbed request, so John said he would do the tissue tests to determine if the doctor was a match for Chris. Luke was still unwilling to give up, so Bob escorted him out while John worked. After John rushed the tissue to the lab, Luke went back in and talked to his love until he could finally say goodbye.
Chris weakened, but Katie kept encouraging him by telling him what their lives would be like when he was well. She begged him to hang on a little bit longer. Luke joined them there, and Tom found him and gave him a legal paper to sign, which gave John permission to shut off the heart machine and to donate the heart expressly to Chris Hughes. John then notified Katie, who was taking a break in the hall, that they had a heart that was a perfect match, and they were moving on it fast. Katie went and kissed Chris, as the staff prepared to wheel him to an operating room.
Bob sat with Kim and explained what was going on. "How could this happen?" cried Kim, as her heart ached for Reid. She felt awful for all the times she had blasted him for his inappropriate comments and rudeness. Alison found Bob and asked him if she could be a part of the transplant team, and Bob agreed. Katie found Luke sitting alone in a hallway, and she was very excited about the prospect of the transplant. She told Luke that she loved his boyfriend for going all the way to Bay City and wresting the donor heart away from the doctors there. Katie asked where Reid was, and Luke began to cry. He shared the bad news with her, and Katie wept, also.
John inspected the legal papers offered by Tom, and Tom verified that Luke had signed them. Katie then found Kim, Margo, and Casey, and she began sobbing in Kim's arms. They all went in to the emergency room, and Luke joined them, for a final goodbye to Reid. Then Katie went back to tell Chris that she loved him.
Margo and Tom waited through surgery with Casey. Tom expressed the thought that Reid Oliver had done a magnificent and selfless thing by donating his heart to Chris, so he felt it was only fitting that the Hughes family start doing more for others. Kim and Bob had every confidence in John Dixon's abilities as a surgeon, but they felt helpless at that moment. Luke and Katie returned to the empty emergency room where Reid had died and comforted one another, as Chris lay on an operating table nearby, and John began the transplant.
Holden hurried to Lily's house after receiving a serious text message from her. When he arrived, Holden learned that Kim had called Lily and given her the news that Chris Hughes was critically ill with a heart condition. Lily went on to say that John Dixon had flown in to perform a heart transplant. Then a tearful Lily said that the heart donor was Reid Oliver, the man that Luke was in love with. Lily said Kim had told her that Luke wanted to be left alone, but Lily was desperate to find their son and comfort him. However, Holden chose to respect Luke's wishes for privacy.
Lucinda Walsh rang the doorbell, and Lily declared that she could not deal with her mother at the moment. Lucinda called out to Lily to open the door, but Holden answered instead and asked Lucinda what she wanted. His former mother-in-law said her heart was "bleeding for Luke," because of the death of Dr. Oliver. Lily motioned Lucinda in and said she would give her mother's condolences to Luke, and then she asked Lucinda to leave. Lucinda claimed that they all had to "pull together" for Luke's sake, but Lily yelled that nothing had changed between the two of them, nor was it about to.
Lucinda next appealed to Holden, who said he was only worried about his son. Lucinda was horrified that Luke was choosing to be alone at the hospital, but Lily refused to even consider her mother's peace offering. Lucinda finally stormed out, and Lily told Holden that she needed to focus solely on Luke.
At the hospital, Alison took a cup of coffee from Java to Luke and gave him an encouraging update on Chris's condition. Luke refused to go home until he knew that the transplant had been a success. Alison went to get more news, and when she returned, she had even better news: Reid's heart had saved Chris's life. She also reassured Luke that it had been a reverent and respectful time when the transplant team removed Reid's heart. Luke was comforted by Alison's words, but he suddenly bolted out of the room.
Katie dozed in an empty hospital room until Margo woke her with the news that Chris was awake and wanted to see her. Bob and Kim were visiting their son, and both were relieved to hear that all Chris's vital signs were good with no hint of rejection of the new heart. When Katie walked in, Chris greeted her with, "Hey, beautiful!" Then he asked for Reid Oliver, so he could thank the doctor for procuring the heart for him at Bay City General and getting it to Memorial in time. No one responded. Katie stalled Chris, and Dr. Dixon backed her up. John reminded Chris that he was a patient at the moment and didn't get to "call the shots." He also threw everyone out of the room except Katie, who gave Chris a welcome back kiss.
When Katie left the room, she asked John, who was standing with Bob, Kim, and Margo, how they could explain to Chris that he had Reid's heart. John said they could not tell his patient right away and just had to stall. Bob and Kim went to Bob's office to rest, but not before Kim hugged John and thanked him for saving her son. Margo offered to take Katie home for some rest, but first she wanted a moment alone with her father. Margo approached John to make sure he was all right, and then she chewed him out for not keeping in contact with her for a good many years. John asked his daughter if she really wanted to get into that then, and Margo backed down and apologized.
Margo drove Katie home and scolded her little sister for all the junk food in the refrigerator and on the kitchen counters. Suddenly Margo realized that all of the junk was Reid's, as Katie said, "You should have seen that guy eat." Katie was conflicted because she was happy that Chris had a good shot at survival, but she also missed her friend and housemate. She praised Reid for helping her through the past year, and then she and Margo packed up the doctor's meager belongings. Katie cried and still worried that Chris might reject the heart, but Margo comforted her.
Alison saw Noah in Java and said she had to talk to him about Reid Oliver. Noah sneered and called the doctor "a jerk," but he was stunned when Alison said Reid was dead. Noah asked immediately about Luke and could only imagine how much pain his former boyfriend was experiencing. Alison said that Luke needed Noah very much, but as they left the coffee shop, Noah admitted that he and Luke were barely speaking to each other anymore. Alison urged Noah to seek out Luke and follow his instincts about what to say. Noah considered that "too weird," so Alison gave him a perfunctory kiss on the cheek and wished him good luck in L.A. as she walked away.
Luke went home, and Lily hugged him. He told his folks that the prognosis for Chris was very good, and Holden expressed his sympathies about Reid. Luke told his parents about the train accident and how at Memorial, Reid had given Luke his power of attorney. He also said that Reid had insisted that Chris get his heart it if was a match, and it was. Holden called Reid "heroic," and Luke revealed that the transplant team had also harvested the doctor's liver, kidneys, corneas, and even his skin would help a burn victim. Lily hugged her son again, as Luke took a call from the hospital, asking what he wanted to do with Dr. Oliver's remains.
Luke had no idea what Reid would have wanted, nor did he have any clue if the man had any living relatives. Luke sobbed, and Lily promised her son that he didn't have to do anything alone. Lily called a funeral director, who showed up quickly. He did, however, refuse to handle the arrangements because while Luke did have a legal durable power of attorney, he did not have permission from a relative for disposition of the body. Luke accused the man of having a gay bias, and Lily threw the funeral director out of her house. Luke did know, however, that the permission was a matter of law, and he had no idea what to do next.
Luke returned to the hospital and spoke to Bob and Kim. He asked if Bob knew anything about Reid's family, but Bob did not. Then Luke visited Chris, who woke up and asked where Reid was. He requested that Luke send Reid in to see him, and he was very serious about it. All Luke could say was, "I have to go," and he choked up and ran out. He ended up at the Snyder pond, where Noah eventually found him.
At WOAK, Holden and Lily, with the help of a video technician, watched a video of an 11-year-old Reid Oliver who had just won a chess tournament. He appeared with an uncle named Angus, who, according to the tech, lived in Brooklyn, New York. Holden suggested they try to find a phone number for the senior Oliver, and failing that, they take a fast trip to New York.
Holden and Lily ended up flying to Brooklyn and finding the apartment building where Angus Oliver lived, but the man was not home. A helpful neighbor directed them to a park where he said they would find Mr. Oliver. Lily and Holden saw Angus in a chess match of his own, but the man had no interest in hearing about his nephew, whom he called "an ungrateful big-mouth." He told the Snyders to "get the hell out."
Back at Memorial, Katie returned and told Chris that he looked much better, and she couldn't wait to get him home and begin taking care of him. A very serious Chris asked her point-blank whose heart he had beating in his chest.
John Dixon walked into the Lakeview bar and spotted Lucinda Walsh drinking bloody Marys there. John asked who had rattled her cage so much that she was already finishing her third drink. He guessed correctly that it was trouble with Lily, so Lucinda referred to him as "a great diagnostician." John was the same curmudgeon, but it was apparent that he was worried about his old friend. He sat with Lucinda and asked her to fill him in on her troubles. Lucinda said she had been trying to take down Craig Montgomery "for the good of humanity," but she had ended up hurting Lily emotionally.
Lucinda finally admitted that she had engaged some "unsavory characters" in her plot, and John figured out she had gotten involved with the mob. "Which one?" he asked, but Lucinda would only admit that she had gone too far, and it had cost her the one person she loved most in the world. John scolded her for "slugging down vodka" so early, and he called her "pathetic." Lucinda barked back at him and suggested that he leave. She told him to stay out of her life, so John said she should go ahead and "get bombed," because he "didn't give a damn."
John then unloaded about the heart transplant, and Lucinda was shocked to hear the whole story. They continued to spar back and forth until John called Lucinda a "selfish, narcissistic cry-baby" with only herself to blame. John plunked money on the bar and told Lucinda to knock herself out, but she stuffed the money in his suit jacket and stomped off.
Lucinda went back to Worldwide and called a strategist for a plan to outwit Lily and her newly acquired shares of Worldwide stock. John Dixon walked in unannounced and accused Lucinda of still fighting with her daughter. Lucinda told John to get lost, but he warned her that she was her own worst enemy. Lucinda retorted, "Get the hell out, John."
Luke greeted Noah at the pond, and Noah expressed his sympathy for Reid's death. Luke wondered how Noah knew he would be at the pond, and Noah answered that it had always been Luke's place. Luke agreed, and he said he would have to put swimming there on the list of things that he never got to do with Reid. Noah asked what else was on that list, and Luke answered that they had never gone to a movie together, or bowled, or watched a ballgame, nor had they ever visited a museum or gone shopping. Noah said that whatever the two of them had done was obviously enough to make them fall in love.
Luke admitted, however, that he and Reid had never made love because Luke had wanted to wait. Noah recounted the wonderful things Reid had done, such as restore Noah's sight and donate his heart to a dying Chris Hughes. According to Noah, that made Reid Oliver a hero in his book. Luke, however, told Noah that Reid was not a hero, and he railed about how anti-hero Reid's behavior was when it overrode good sense in trying to beat the train to the crossing. Luke got emotional, and Noah hugged him. They continued to talk as Luke reminded Noah that Noah had a plane to catch to LA. Noah said he could get another one.
In his hospital room, Chris demanded to know whose heart he had, but Katie continued to put him off. Chris said some things did not add up, and he only wanted the truth. Finally Katie said that Chris had Reid's heart, but Chris did not understand. She explained that Reid had been in a car accident on a railroad crossing, and Chris figured out immediately that the doctor had been on his way to Bay City to get the heart for Chris. Chris felt responsible for Reid's death, and he began to get agitated. He and Katie argued about whether Reid had died in vain, and Bob Hughes heard the commotion and barged into the room.
Bob said he had not wanted his son to know the source of his new heart so soon, but Chris kept asking whose idea it had been to slap Reid's heart into Chris's chest. Katie finally yelled that it had been Reid's idea, and Bob described what had happened. A nurse entered to take the patient's vitals, so Bob and Katie stepped out. Katie apologized to Bob for spilling the beans, but Bob was not upset. When Katie returned to Chris, he was wondering if every breath he took for the rest of his life would be a reminder of Reid Oliver. Katie got angry and told Chris he was dishonoring both Reid and the amazing gift he had given Chris. "Suck it up, Hughes," she advised. Chris held Katie, and she admitted that she wanted to fall asleep every night listening to the beat of Chris's beautiful heart.
In the park in Brooklyn, Reid Oliver's uncle Angus shouted at Lily and Holden for ruining his chess game and his entire day, for that matter. Holden interrupted and said that Reid was dead. "That's a damn shame," said Angus, and then he inquired "what the hell" he was supposed to do about it. Holden explained that his son Luke was the one designated by Reid to dispose of his remains, but the law required a signature from a family member. Oliver asked, "who the hell Luke" was to his nephew, and Holden answered that he was a "very close friend," but then he changed that to say that Reid and Luke were in love.
Lily and Holden said that Reid had died as a hero, and Holden handed the man a paper to sign. Angus signed, and then he shared a story about Reid as a child when he had lost an important chess match. Angus also handed them a black knight chess piece to give to Luke in memory of Reid.
Back in Oakdale, Lily and Holden met Luke and Noah at the pond to scatter Reid's ashes. Luke spoke about how Reid had hated Memorial Hospital but loved the new neurological wing, so some of his ashes would be interred there and the rest in the Snyder pond. "We're finally going to get that swim," said Luke, as he gently emptied the box into the water. Then Luke took out the black knight that Angus had sent him, and whispered, "Goodbye, Reid."
Bob and Kim visited their son and told him the news that the new wing on the hospital would be named in memory of Dr. Reid Oliver. Then Bob said that Luke had also asked that some of Reid's ashes go into the cornerstone of the new neurological wing, and they all agreed that would be wonderful.
In her office in Worldwide, an enraged Lucinda ordered John Dixon to leave, and she threatened to call security. John told her to calm down and listen to him. He said he wanted to apologize for the way he had spoken to her earlier in the day, but overhearing Lucinda's conversation to a crony to do more harm to Lily had put him off. John demanded to know what Lucinda had done to her daughter, and Lucinda admitted that she had crossed the line one too many times with the result that Lily had disowned her mother. She also said that Lily owned enough stock in Worldwide to cause endless trouble.
When John realized that Lucinda was planning on striking first and destroying Lily, he yelled, "What the hell is wrong with you, woman?" He said she was behaving like the classic Lucinda Walsh, but Lucinda accused John of descending on Oakdale like Superman to perform miracles and save a life. That, she explained, gave him no right to hold everyone to the straight moral code that he had apparently recently adopted. John said Lucinda sounded exactly like the old war-horse he remembered, and he reminded her that she had at one time been his wife.
When John continued to say that he would like to think of Lucinda "as a friend," she called him "delusional." She also explained that she was a cancer survivor in remission, and not once during her horrendous ordeal had she heard from John. John acknowledged that, but he still felt that Lucinda was making a huge mistake with her daughter by destroying her connection with Lily. He warned her to "stay the hell away from Lily."
Out of the blue, John asked Lucinda if Reid Oliver had been in love with her grandson, and that infuriated her. John went on to say that Lucinda was so programmed to fight that she didn't back down even when her adversary was her own flesh and blood. Lucinda responded honestly that fighting was the only thing she did well, but John contended that it was not too late for her to change the outcome of how things would go down with Lily. He told Lucinda that she had it within herself, and he called her "old girl of mine."
John offered to speak with Lily, but Lucinda declined. As John turned to go, he told Lucinda that she had only one thing wrong. He said no one before or after him had ever known her so well, and he was very, very glad that she wasn't sick any more. Lucinda watched John leave, and then she sat at her desk and thought.
A bit later, John showed up at Margo's house with a bouquet of daisies. He announced that he was considering hanging around Oakdale for a while. He also asked how his daughter felt about that, so Margo invited him in and hid her smile.
Lucinda also arrived at Lily's empty house with an armload of flowers, which she dumped on the doorstep before she left.
Due to CBS Sports coverage of the US Open tennis tournament, CBS preempted its usual daytime lineup. As a result, The Young and the Restless, The Bold and the Beautiful, and As the World Turns were not shown today. This programming change was planned for, and there will be no "lost" episodes as a result
Regular programming will resume on Tuesday, September 7, and pick up where the Friday, September 3 episodes concluded.
