Hey, I'm new to Scrubs fics but this idea just came to me so I had to write it. Sorry if the medical jargon isn't up to scratch.
JD was sitting on his porch humming to himself, he was slightly….tipsy. Ok, a little more than tipsy; he was completely pissed. He had had a bad day with three patients dying on him including a five year old girl with leukemia and at the end of it, to top it off; Doctor Cox had given him a huge tongue lashing about not getting involved too much with the patients and how he was a rubbish doctor.
"You're a pansy aren't you, Kylie?!" he yelled to which JD had replied, very stupidly admittedly.
"Not a pansy, more of a peony." This caused Cox to make the most disgusted face he could muster, throw his hands in the air and storm off to torment Nervous Guy.
Now JD was drowning in his sorrows and staring puzzled at the brown beer bottle in his hand not sure how it had got empty so soon.
"Ah, well, must be time for annuder," he slurred and bent over the arm of his chair to reach into the box beside him. It was empty. "Damn." He muttered half heartedly to himself and stood up shakily. "Maybe I should go back to the apartment." He pondered the option and then shook his head. "Nah! More beer! Where did I leave the other box?"
As JD rummaged around the junk he'd collected on his wooden porch for the pack of alcohol his hand ran over something lithe and rough, he drew his hand back abruptly. "Whaz tha'?" he frowned and clicked on the torch that was hanging off the random coat stand beside him. It was a snake. "Well aren't you pwetty?" The reptile was beautiful in color with red, black and white rings. As any normal guy, despite what Dr Cox said, JD jumped on the chance to catch a snake. He'd wanted to hold them ever since he was a little kid and remembered when he was with his brother snake hunting in the yard. He never did find one.
Some part of rationality sparked at the back of his sluggish brain and he remembered some snakes could be venomous and this might be a coral snake. What was the rhyme again, he could never remember, 'Red and yellow….the snake's mellow? Yellow? Oh, I don't know. Here snakey, snakey." JD reached forward to grab the snake's mid-body, in his drunken stupor he did not think of the repercussions of what this may do, and gripped the scaly flesh
The snake hissed, clearly startled and whipped around, its small head shooting towards it's attacker's bare arm. It's jaws open and it sunk its small, hollow fangs into the man's skin. He tried to withdraw his arm, feeling the sharp pain in his limb but the snake refused to release its grip, chewing on the flesh.
"Owie, gerroff," JD squeaked and tugged at the snake, trying to extricate its fangs. Finally the reptile let go and dropped onto the wooden boards of the porch before slithering off into the shadows, "That wasn't very nice, snake."
JD looked at his arm, frowning, after the initial bite it didn't hurt much any more but it was bleeding slightly. He scuffled in his over-the-shoulder bag for a tissue and dabbed at the wound. Then he went back in search of his beer, his mind still a bit of a haze from the alcohol. Once he found it he sat back down on his chair and found himself dozing off although he would have to get up in ten hours for his eight o'clock shift.
The young resident stumbled into work at three minutes past six, yawning loudly, barely able to open his eyes. He really shouldn't have drank so much last night, he couldn't remember anything of the evening. He chucked his bag in his locker and then headed for the desk to get a chart and a patient. As he leant against the counter he was aware of a very strange feeling in his arm. Like one he'd never experienced before. His arm had gone numb, as if some shell had covered it except for a a small pain, like a splinter half way down his forearm.
"Nancy! What are you doing? Haven't you got a patient to torment with your girly charm and natural flowery aura?" A voice barked behind him and he turned lethargically to see Dr Cox stood there. "Well?"
"Yes, Dr Cox," JD sighed and picked up a chart but it slipped from his fingers suddenly and he frowned as it clattered back in the rack.
"Good god, Penelope, can your weak little arms not even manage a chart?" Dr Cox grinned causing JD to scowl and grab the chart more fiercely this time and stride off.
After treating several patients JD was aware that something was wrong with him. He was getting slightly dizzy and when his throat was extremely dry because every time he tried to swallow his muscles wouldn't contract.
He decided to head to the bathroom. After splashing his face he looked at his face in the mirror. He really should get some more sleep, he had huge, dark circles beneath his eyes. JD groaned, knowing he would have to go back to work and face his condescending, sadistic mentor soon.
Leaving the safety and solitude of the bathroom JD found his way back to the reception and the nurses station.
"Bambi! How you doing?" Carla greeted him, a huge smile on her face.
"Good morning or is it afternoon?" JD yawned back, his words slurring together slightly.
"Tired?"
"Yeah, should've slept more instead of drinking. You know, its not very comfortable sleeping outside in a chair."
"Oh, Bambi, you didn't," Carla shook her head at the young resident, "Are you drunk or do you have a cold? You're slurring your words." She looked concerned.
"No-no, its nothing," JD shook his head trying desperately to ignore the spreading numbness in his left side. Now it was almost his whole arm and he couldn't move it. This was getting scary. Plus the not swallowing was making it harder for him to breathe and his was getting a bit raspy.
"Sally, no Barbara, Isabelle, Evie…yes," Dr Cox muttered to himself as he approached Newbie who was leaning rather heavily on the reception desk, "Evie! This no time to have a girly chat with your friends. Patients to see; lives to save! Besides, I need you to cover my patients as I watch my show. Ok, Verity?"
The attending was surprised by the fact JD didn't even acknowledge his being there much less reply.
"Oi, Newbie! I was talking to you. JD?!" Dr Cox finally used his resident's real name if just to provoke a reaction.
"Wha-oh sorry, Dr Cox," JD rubbed his arm and blinked, trying to get over the overwhelming dizziness he'd just experienced.
"Yes, well I'd prefer it if you actually replied to me when I addressed you."
"Well at least it got you to refer to me by my real name," JD joked, weakly.
"What? I though your real name was Lucinda?" Dr Cox retorted before looking more closely at the young doctor, "Are you alright, Newbie?"
"Yeah…why wouldn't I be?" JD lied through his teeth and he wasn't even sure why. He was a doctor, he knew how important it was to get things treated as soon as possible. Suddenly he was struck by the fact it was getting even more difficult to breathe, his airway felt like it was closing.
"Ok, then, I'll go and watch my show. You can have my chart," Perry began walking away.
"Wait!" JD gasped, grabbing for his mentor's sleeve, "Help."
Dr Cox turned and frowned for a moment before seeing the kid actually was in trouble. He was gasping and struggling to draw any breaths. JD then sank to his knees, clutching his throat, eyes wide.
"Hey, JD! Kid!" the mentor dropped all pretenses and the charade of being the cold, hard, unemotional Dr Cox, dropping down beside his protégé, "I need a gurney over here, now! Carla! Some help! Ok, kid, calm down try and breathe slow, deep breaths." Carla, who up until this point had been frozen to the spot leaped into action and rushed to aide the attending.
JD shook his head frantically, clearly distressed before his eyes rolled into the back of his head and he became unconscious.
"Where the hell is that gurney?!" Dr Cox roared just as it arrived and JD was swiftly but gently loaded onto it and hurried into a room where he was hooked up to a pulse ox monitor, IV fluids and cardiac monitor.
"I'll have to intubate him," Dr Cox decided grudgingly, "He's in severe respiratory failure." Suddenly one of the machines began beeping furiously as the heart monitor showed an irregular, fast rhythm.
"He's also in tachycardia. We need to shock him. Everyone stand back," one of the unnamed residents had joined in the group and was holding the paddles. Everyone did as they were told and Dr Cox winced as Newbie's body arched under the electric shock.
He couldn't believe JD had ended up like this. What the hell was wrong with the kid? Why hadn't he displayed any obvious symptoms before? What was going on? And why the hell was he getting so worked up over the overenthusiastic, excitable resident. "Because I care about him," a voice at the back of his head told him. "Well, we better find out what's wrong with him before you lose him."
What do you think? I dont know much about snakes and bites so I'm sorry! Review!