AND THEN THERE WERE FOUR
Written by Ann Rivers ann.rivers@virgin.net
Completed 31 July 2001
Summary: Jesse's first day at Community General. Needless to say, chaos ensues…
Disclaimer: Diagnosis Murder and its characters belong to CBS and Viacom.
No profit is being made for their use here… I'm just borrowing them for a bit…
"You know, Mark, if this rain doesn't stop soon I'll be following Jack out to Denver…" Amanda sighed.
Closing the blind against the torrential storm outside, she then joined him on the doctors' lounge couch.
"At this rate we'll be fitting our ambulances with rudders and water skis…"
"Oh please, Amanda, don't even joke about leaving me too…" Mark chuckled, rolling his eyes.
"I'm going to have enough difficulty replacing Jack, without having to fill your shoes too…"
"Why, thank you… I think…" she shot back, laughing too though as she playfully hugged his arm.
"And you're not fooling me at all, Mark Sloan… the clues and evidence are there for all to see…
you can't wait to get back into your blades and start teaching interns again…"
"I can see I've dragged you around too many crime scenes…" Mark grinned, fondly hugging her back.
"But yes, you're right, Amanda… as Jack was too… there's nothing I enjoy more than teaching…"
Thinking for a moment, he then winked at her while holding up a rather tatty pair of roller blades.
"Besides, spending so much time around so much youthful energy will help me stay young…"
"Oh, sure, Mark, as though you need any help in that department…" Amanda grinned knowingly, sipping her coffee while nodding to the stack of files in his lap. "Anyone catch your eye…?"
"Actually, yes…" Mark smiled, handing her the uppermost folder while he straightened up the rest.
"And if this boy is only half as gifted as his file suggests, he'll fill Jack's shoes just fine…"
"I see what you mean…" Amanda looked suitably impressed as she read through its various notes.
"Either top or second throughout med school…? Graduated with honours…? That is some record…"
"And now we get to meet him…" Mark went on, winking slyly back at her as both rose to their feet.
"Want to join me…?"
"I'd love to, Mark, but I have my own meeting to get back to…" Amanda sighed, shaking her head.
"That autopsy I'm doing for Steve… I said I'd have the prelim report for him this afternoon…"
Torn between duty and curiosity, she pulled a face as they moved out together into the corridor.
"And you don't need to be a detective to know which will be the more entertaining…"
"You could always ask Norman to keep you company…" Mark deadpanned with an innocent smile, finding it impossible not to laugh as Amanda folded her arms and glared pointedly back at him.
"You know, Denver's not that far away…" she shot back, slapping Jack's postcard against his chest.
Mark may have taken her seriously, had it not been for the sound of her laughter as she moved away.
Laughing too, he read through the card – fondly reflecting on the good friend and doctor who'd sent it.
Jack Stewart had been an exceptional doctor – and, on a more personal level, almost like a son to him. On both of those levels, it was going to take someone very special to take his place.
Glancing at the uppermost file, Mark smiled and set out to meet a promisingly hopeful candidate.
They made for an interesting group. Five newly qualified doctors, each making an instant impression –
all happily unaware of being under discreet, appraising scrutiny.
Two had their noses buried in their study books, although Mark knew better than to judge them on that. Years of experience warned him that was as much a sign of last minute study as one of commitment. Another was listening to the ballgame on the radio, which gave the two bookworms a slight advantage.
The remaining two were trying to score some points of their own – with one less than impressed nurse.
Wryly wondering what he'd let himself in for, Mark then frowned as he checked his files.
Six personal records, but only five doctors – and Jesse Travis didn't strike him as the tardy type.
Mark had to admit that he was puzzled. You didn't earn such an exemplary record as his by being late.
Still, if there was one thing that he loved, it was a mystery – with or without a murder involved.
"Well now, gentlemen, good morning and welcome to Community General…" he greeted them,
amused to note their sudden, startled attention towards him as he came striding into the lobby.
"I'm Mark Sloan, head of internal medicine, and I'll be assigning you to your tutoring residents…"
Fondly thinking that Jack would have loved to see the shock on their faces, he then added brightly,
"So, now that you know who I am, I guess I should know who you are..."
Before any could reply, a loud crash and a muffled yelp came from one of the nearby supply rooms.
"That'll be Travis…" one of the would be Romeos explained through a chorus of sniggers –
one which quickly died away under suddenly stern blue eyes and a quiet but firm question.
"I take it you mean doctor Travis…?"
Leaving their chagrined murmurs behind, Mark then crossed the lobby towards the supply room, intrigued and now slightly concerned by the sound of frantic scuffling and muttering within.
On coming to the doorway, concern gave way to a surprised, quickly stifled chuckle of laughter.
Beneath a fallen IV stand lay an upturned box of surgical gloves, its contents strewn across the floor
Among them, all he could see of his quarry were the soles of his shoes and the lower part of his legs.
The rest of him lay sprawled under the lowest shelf, from where came a youthful, slightly frantic voice.
"Oh jeez, that's me busted outta here before I even get started…! Now where the hell did it go…?
It's gotta be under here somewhere, just gotta be…! Jeez, if wrecking one of his rooms isn't bad enough, if I don't find my ID and get this mess cleaned up before it's time to meet Doc Sloan…"
While enjoying the boy's plight, Mark knew the last thing he'd want was a gloating audience.
Closing the door on Romeo's derisive face, he dropped to his heels and gently tapped a protruding leg.
"Should I come down there to meet you instead…?" he asked, the question amused rather than sarcastic.
The frantic muttering stopped, followed a few seconds later by the inevitable groan of realisation.
"Oh jeez, somebody please just shoot me now…"
"Come on now, Jesse, it really isn't that bad…" Mark chuckled, finding it impossible now not to laugh.
In all his years of teaching, he'd never had to coax one of his interns from under a cupboard before.
At this rate he'd have to either go in after him or bribe him out with a lollipop.
Not wanting that mortified intern to feel any more embarrassed than he already was, he added gently,
"I have your ID here, it's just some fallen gloves and I'm ten minutes early, so there's no harm done…"
"R - Really…? I – I mean, I didn't think it'd gone that far…" The voice still sounded uncertain,
but at least there was movement now as the body it belonged to started to wriggle its way backwards.
Finally a rather dishevelled, shame-faced intern emerged and climbed cautiously to his feet,
giving Mark the chance to give his potential protégé a discreet, patiently amused once over.
Where Jack had been tall and sturdy enough to look his age, Jesse Travis wasn't – and didn't.
He was slim and slight, anxious blue eyes meeting his from under a shock of tawny blond hair.
Still only twenty four, the mortified panic on an already youthful face made him look even younger.
Mark quickly smothered a grin. Suddenly the idea of giving him that lollipop didn't seem so outlandish.
Hoping to reassure him, Mark stepped forward both to offer his hand and to return the boy's pass.
"Yes, I think someone's overdone it with the floor wax…" he went on, looking shrewdly around him -
guessing from a somewhat pained nod that Jesse had found this out himself the hard way.
Jesse continued to stare at him, clearly thrown by this offbeat response to a less than ideal first meeting.
Finally he recovered enough to shake hands while glancing awkwardly at the chaos he'd created.
"I guess so…" he agreed, not giving Mark the chance to say more than his name as he tried to apologise.
"And I – I guess you must be wondering what I was doing in here in the first place, when I should be…"
"Jesse…"
"… well, you know, out there with the other interns, but… well, you see, I got here kinda early, and…"
"Jesse…"
"… just couldn't sleep, you know, and I just wanted to… well, make sure I didn't oversleep, and…"
"Jesse…!"
"… I didn't want to get in the way, so I thought the best place to check out was the supply room, and…"
"Jesse…!"
At his fourth, now helplessly laughing attempt, the torrent of words slowed to just one startled question.
"Sir…?"
Resisting the urge to pat him on his head, Mark placed a gentle, calming hand on Jesse's shoulder – fondly thinking that, in all the years he'd known him, Jack Stewart had never called him sir.
"Jesse, believe me, you don't need to explain this to me, and you certainly don't need to apologise…"
"I – I don't…?" Two words this time, joined by a still puzzled but now shyly grateful smile –
both for Mark's reassurances and his help in clearing up the debris of fallen gloves and IV stands.
"No, Jesse, you don't…" Mark chuckled, wryly noting that he now had the boy's full, curious attention.
"You see, when I started my internship all those years ago… well, I felt the same way you do now…
I guess I was pretty excited too, and… well, like you, I wanted to know where all the action was…"
"Really…?" Jesse's return grin then faded slightly as he rubbed at a still sore and aching backside.
"I bet you didn't fall off a box and slide into an IV stand on your butt, though… did you…?"
"Well no, I must admit you have me there…" Mark looked concerned, though, despite his amusement.
"Are you sure you're not hurt…? Only it sounded like you fell from quite a height…"
"Believe me, sir, when you're this short, even a kerb qualifies as quite a height…" Jesse sighed –
his comically plaintive expression soon giving way to another contagiously mischievous grin.
"And even if I did get dented… well, at least I'm in the right place to do something about it…"
Laughing too much to reply, Mark then gave his young charge a fatherly pat on his back.
"Well, if you're sure you're okay, we'd better rejoin the others before they skip class and play hooky…"
Jesse grinned back and nodded, but Mark could see a telltale strain beyond the friendly blue eyes.
Jesse seemed to sense his thoughts, his smile tellingly fading as he lowered his head.
"They're not bad by themselves, sir… it's just Kyle who thinks I'm a freakish bootlicker…" he sighed. Frowning slightly, as though coming to a decision, he looked up again, his face set with determination.
"But I'm not here to clean anyone's boots, sir… I'm here to be the best doctor that I possibly can…
and as for that licking boots thing…" Jesse paused for effect before pulling a suitably disgusted face.
"All I can say to that is eeeww…!"
Mark had to laugh at that, finding himself increasingly drawn to this young intern's humour and spirit.
"Between you, me and the bedpans, Jesse, I'd have to agree…" he grinned, proudly patting his shoulder.
"Now we'd better get going, before Norman sends out search parties…"
"Norman…?" Jesse looked puzzled, then he smiled and nodded. "Oh yeah, I think I met him earlier…
real uptight little guy, in a suit and glasses… looked like he could do with some real shaking up…?"
"That's him… Norman Briggs, our head administrator…" Mark replied through vainly stifled laughter -
waiting until the young intern had left the room before adding a quietly mischievous afterthought.
"And if anyone's going to shake him up, I think it's you…"
If Jesse was aware of this little conspiracy, he wasn't showing it as he waited for his real assignment.
If anything he looked increasingly nervous while his fellow interns were assigned to their supervisors.
Mark could feel this, and had already guessed why Jesse kept fidgeting beside him.
In spite of his earlier assurances, he was still expecting one hell of a reprimand for his carelessness.
One which would blemish an otherwise faultless record - hardly the best way to start his career.
A carefully discreet wink helped to settle him a little, but Jesse's eyes remained distinctly uneasy.
The only time he smiled, and nervously at that, was when Kyle was introduced to his tutoring resident.
Jesse already knew him by name and reputation. Mike Buchanan, known as the drill sergeant in scrubs. Meeting him face to face – or, in his case, face to chest – the unsmiling doctor certainly looked the part.
Over six feet tall, with a build to match, his specialty was cutting over confident interns down to size.
Little wonder, then, that Kyle Harding's cocky grin had pretty much disappeared as they moved away.
One remaining intern stared after them - no doubt wondering what punishment lay in store for him.
Seeing this, Mark wished he could string him along for just a little longer – but he wasn't that cruel.
"Well now, Jesse, it's finally your turn…" he said at last, smiling gently down at the young doctor.
"And all red tape aside, it's at times like this when I love being head of internal medicine…"
"Why…? So you can send supply wrecking interns to boot camp…?" Jesse asked with a nervous grin – relaxing a little at the prolonged and hearty laughter he received in response.
"Believe me, Jesse, having been through one of those things, I'd do no such thing…" Mark chuckled, relieved that Jesse looked happier, but again wishing that Jack had been there to meet his replacement.
The boy had the same spirit. The same sharp, questioning eyes. The same mischievous, playful humour.
On that last point alone, they'd have got on like a house on fire. And sent Norman Briggs totally spare.
Still smiling at the thought, Mark went on to address both the matter at hand and a still curious intern.
"No, Jesse, what I just said about being head of internal medicine has nothing to do with boot camps…
more the admittedly selfish privilege it gives me to teach and train the best and brightest new students… those who not only want to be good doctors, but… well, as you said yourself, the best they can be…"
As he'd hoped and expected, that puzzled curiosity now gave way to a tentative smile of realisation.
"Y – You mean, you'll be tutoring me…?" Jesse asked at last, surprised in spite of his obvious delight.
"Even with me… well, you know, almost wrecking one of your supply rooms…?"
"Well, I must admit that was a decisive factor… but not a negative one…" Mark grinned back at him.
"As far as I'm concerned, Jesse, anyone who takes the initiative to find out where he'll be working…
to use his own time to do a little research and legwork… they're the qualities that I look out for…"
Letting Jesse enjoy his moment of glory, Mark then gently ensured that glory didn't go to his head.
"Even if he ends up flat on his butt in a supply room while doing it…"
Judging by the way he blushed and grinned in agreement, such egoism was never going to be a problem.
Not that Mark had even thought that it would be – the young intern was far too well mannered for that.
Keeping that mischievous curiosity in check, though… well, that would prove another matter entirely.
Mark then felt his own smile widen in anticipation. He knew just the person to do it…
"Well then, Jesse, with all that now settled, I'd better give you the real guided tour…" he went on,
only just beating his new protégé to the inevitable punchline. "Just watch out for the floor wax…"
As he showed him around, Mark learned more, but he suspected not all, about his new intern.
He came from Elgin, was an only child and had left home for college as soon as he'd been old enough – giving Mark his first clue on what the otherwise candidly effusive Jesse was holding back from him.
He'd learned that his mother was a nurse and his father, with a telltale indifference, was an accountant. As Mark had already guessed and tactfully respected, the rest was, for the moment at least, off limits.
He'd soon brightened again – thanks, no doubt, to the coffee and pastries' supply in the doctors' lounge.
He'd enjoyed and excelled in history at school, to the extent that he'd considered pursuing it as a career.
Then he'd seen what Indiana Jones had to go through, and decided he'd be another kind of doctor.
Like most kids, he'd had piano lessons – but unlike most kids, he'd not fallen in love with his teacher.
Mrs Gorbler, he'd wryly reflected, made Mike Buchanan look like Mary Poppins.
With that in mind, he'd taught himself to play the guitar – although, with shy modesty, not all that well.
By the time they reached the path lab, they'd covered all bases – except, Mark thought wryly, the first…
"And how do you prefer to be called…?" he asked – smiling at the puzzled stare he received in return.
"I like to keep things pretty informal, and… well, Doc or Doc Sloan is fine with me…"
Jesse looked surprised for a moment, before he caught on and amiably shrugged his shoulders.
"I really don't mind, sir… either Jess or Jesse, whatever…" he replied, adding with a rueful grin,
"But after four years of hearing it at med school, I draw the line at squirt, shortstop and Doogie…"
Mark had to laugh at that – especially when he saw Amanda's face as they entered the path lab.
Having endured Jack's big brother teasing for so long, the tables had finally turned in her favour.
Fortunately the young intern was too shyly smitten at being introduced to her to notice her amusement – too engrossed in looking around him to question the mischief that now glinted in her eyes.
"Oh Mark, thank you…!" she whispered, hugging him while they watched Jesse explore the lab.
"He's younger than me, smaller than me, junior to me… and too adorably teasable for words…!"
Laughing too much to argue, Mark felt it only fair to add a light hearted note of caution.
"From what I've already seen, he gives back as good as he gets…" he finally replied, winking at her.
"He's also the most independent twenty four year old that I've ever met… you have been warned…"
"Not to mention the most curious…" Amanda retorted dryly as Jesse disappeared into her supply room.
"Yes, though I'm surprised he hasn't learned his lesson from when I met him earlier..." Mark chuckled – checking that Jesse was still out of earshot before quietly explaining to an amused, intrigued Amanda.
"Let's just say that overly curious interns and overly waxed floors don't mix…"
Amanda looked puzzled for a moment before the penny dropped and she, too, started to laugh.
"He's going to be quite a handful for you, Mark…" she said at last, raising a quizzical eyebrow.
"I know that too…" Mark agreed, his smile widening at sight of a familiar figure approaching the door.
"Ah, good…. here comes my little helper now…"
Steve had come in for nothing more than an autopsy report, some banter with his father and Amanda –
and, to their usual amused bewilderment, lunch in the hospital cafeteria.
Instead, to his own puzzled confusion, he was met with two innocent faces and abruptly stifled laughter.
Which, in his long suffering experience, meant only one thing. Trouble…
Strongly tempted to make a run for it while he could, Steve sighed and closed that chance behind him.
He was going to regret this, he knew… but then, didn't he always…?
"Okay, let's have it…" he said at last, regarding father and friend in turn with his most meaningful stare.
"According to your report, Mr Green here didn't die of natural causes, as thought when we found him, but he was murdered by Colonel Mustard in the library, using our old friend the untraceable poison…?"
"Actually it was the rope in the kitchen…" Mark retorted - loving the face that Steve pulled in response.
Before he could retaliate, however, a new if slightly confused voice chimed in from the supply room.
"Hey, what a neat idea…! I mean, poison's a lot more imaginative and… hey, no, wait a minute…
the version I own doesn't have poison as one of the… oooh, specimen slides…! Cool…!"
"That they are, Jesse…" Amanda confirmed, raising her voice over Mark's helpless splutter of laughter.
"And if you break any, it'll be Dr Livingston killing Dr Travis in the path lab with her bare hands…"
Over stifled laughter, silence fell - such that they could hear boxes being carefully stacked back again.
Eventually Jesse reappeared – a study of sheepish contrition as he returned to stand beside Mark.
"Sorry, I – I guess I kinda got carried away…" he murmured, offering her a shyly awkward grin.
Amanda grinned back at him – privately grateful as that insatiable curiosity homed in on another target.
"Hey, forget board games, you're a real cop…!" Jesse went on, pointing excitedly at Steve's badge.
Not giving him a chance to reply or object, he then lifted it from his belt for a closer look –
studying it with all due reverence while a bewildered Steve tried in vain to get a word in edgeways.
"Wow, I've never seen one this close up before, and… hey, that's the LA skyline there, isn't it…?
And just look at the detail…! Boy, that is some workmanship…! D'you know what it's made of…? Only it's kinda heavier than I'd expected… and a lot bigger than the ones you see on TV…"
"That's why we use big strong belts to clip them onto…" Steve chipped in through a break for breath – gently prising his badge out of a guiltily startled Jesse's hands to demonstrate.
After years of practice, Mark knew better than to take his son's patiently quizzical glare too seriously. Sensing Jesse's uncertainty of it, Steve then offered the young doctor a warmer, friendlier grin – receiving a shy smile in return while Mark, admirably straight-faced, completed the introductions.
"Steve, I'd like you to meet Jesse Travis, he'll be replacing Jack once he's completed his internship…
Jess, this is my son, Steve… and you're right, he's a cop… a lieutenant in homicide, to be exact…"
"Homicide…?" Jesse was clearly impressed, all awkwardness forgotten as he and Steve shook hands.
"So – So that must mean you solve murders…? Not just on board games, but… wow, the real thing…?"
"Yeah, Jesse, I do…" Steve nodded, finding it impossible not to laugh now at the boy's enthusiasm.
Seeing Jesse's eyes yearningly study his gun, he quickly diverted that enthusiasm out of harm's way.
"In fact, we all do in our own way… my dad's a medical consultant with the police department,
while Amanda deals with the forensics, autopsies and other icky technical stuff…"
"Wow, that sounds great…!" Jesse enthused, looking up at him with a hopeful, tentative smile.
"Do – Do you think…? I – I mean, d'you think you could let me… well, kinda tag along sometime…?"
"I'd defy anyone to try and stop you…" Steve retorted, a friendly wink ridding the jibe of any offence.
As Jesse grinned in good natured concession, he gave his new student a brotherly pat on his back.
"In fact, you could make a start now, helping me out with some of Mr Green's icky technical stuff…"
As Jesse nodded happily and followed Steve towards her desk, Amanda glanced at Mark and smiled.
"You realise that Steve is going to pay you back big time for this… and I mean big time…" she warned.
"Well, why should I have all the fun with keeping him out of trouble…?" Mark retorted, all innocence.
Watching the birth of what, he knew, would be a very special friendship, the grin happily widened.
"And I'd say the fun is only just beginning…"