Hey everyone, this is my first fanfic...ever, so bear with me. I appreciate all reviews/comments as they show me that you at least took the time to read :) I love the His/Her/Their story episodes, and I always wondered what it would be like to see all the antics from a patient's point of view. I remember MASH did an episode like that and I loved it, so it sort of inspired me to write this. Thoughts are in italics, and are supposed to be like the voice overs in the show. In traditional His/Her/Their story fashion J.D starts the narrating and passes it off, and won't get it back until the end. I hope you like it :)

Disclaimer: I don't own Scrubs, blah blah blah. Now on with the story!

It was a typical day at Sacred Heart Hospital. The morning had just begun, and J.D entered the hospital with a cheery, yet vacant expression on his face, which meant that he was lost in his thoughts again, as was often the case with him. When you've been a doctor for as long as I have, you tend to forget sometimes what it must be like for the patients. As doctors we tend to take some things for granted. Most of the fear that we feel goes away when we know what we're dealing with, especially if it's easily treatable. But for the people we treat, it can be a much scarier situation. I wonder what it must be like for some of the patients who come through this place.

After grabbing the appropriate chart, he continued down the hall and walked into a nearby room inhabited by a young woman lying in a bed in the usual patient attire. She had medium length light brown hair and a small figure, appearing to be around 14 years old, but who had just celebrated her 19th birthday. She smiled at J.D as he walked in, though it was a sort of nervous smile, done so more out of fear than out of sentiment. J.D greeted her in his usual way. "Hello! I'm Doctor John Dorian." He then looked at her chart and read, "Ms…Hug? Whoa, that's really your last name?!" The young woman's expression then changed from slightly anxious to slightly annoyed. Oh here we go again! Why does everyone seem so shocked at my last name! Seriously, if one more person walks through this door and comments on it even one more time I swear I'm gonna… J.D began to read from her chart again. "I see you were admitted for severe abdominal pain. We'll run the usual tests and we'll do what we can."

"Thanks," the woman replied. J.D then left the room, but turned around and came back in a second later. "So your last name is really Hug?! That's so cool!" He was really having a ball with this one, as only J.D could. Oh boy, here we go again. It's ok, just try to sidestep the issue. No bid deal, she thought to herself. "It's not as cool as you'd think," she said. "I was made fun of all the time when I was a kid. It got old fast."

"Really?" asked J.D. "I love hugs. I hug pretty much everyone." She then gave him a strange look, as if to ask, "What are you, nuts?" He broke the silence by saying "Well, you know, in a completely platonic way…" When she continued to give him a blank stare, he excused himself by saying, "I'm going to have these tests run now. I'll be back later with the results, Ms…"

"You can just call me Rachel," she said. "No need for formality here," she said, only half seriously, as she could tell J.D was going to have a field day with her last name if she didn't put a stop to it quickly. No need to excite him further.

"Alright then, Rachel. See you in a bit." He left the room, leaving Rachel with a rare moment of solitude. She began to reflect on all the reasons she was there. She was beginning to drift off into her own little world, when she was suddenly interrupted with an unwanted intrusion. J.D was back, and he wasn't alone. He was accompanied by a man and a woman who looked to be in their early 50s. Great. Why did my parents have to get here so soon? She thought miserably. The silence was finally broken by J.D himself. "It looks like you won't be alone after all!" he said cheerfully. "I've informed your parents about the situation and they've decided to keep you company for a while." He smiled again, thinking that his new patient would be thrilled at the thought of not being alone, but her expression was one of disappointment, not relief. Catching this, he added nervously, "Well, I'm off," and left the room. Rachel lay motionless and neither looked at nor spoke to either of her parents. Her father broke the silence.

"Hey there, Rache," he said enthusiastically. "We got here as soon as we could." No kidding, considering I was just admitted about two minutes ago. "Yeah, I can tell," she said, trying to muster a smile. Rachel's mother then chimed in. "Are you bummed?" she asked. What kind of a stupid question is that? I hate it when she uses that word.. By goodness can't anybody give me a little space?! She opened her mouth to answer when an annoying, high-pitched version of Mozart's requiem pierced the air. Her father then looked at his cell phone. "Sorry, sweetie, I have to take this," he said and excused himself from the room. Rachel then proceeded to answer her mother's question, although she really didn't see the need to. "Honestly, well, eh, I don't know. I guess I'd rather be back at home than lying around here, but I guess that really wouldn't change things," she said, trying to create a sense of apathy. Her mother nodded and said, "Well, you just hang in there, then. I hate to cut our visit short, but I better go see where your father went."

"Bye," Rachel said, relieved. Rachel sighed to herself as her mother exited the room. Phew. I got out of that one easily enough. Now I finally have some time to myself. She glanced around the room thoughtfully. It was pretty small, but suited her needs, she reasoned. She looked to her right a spied a small table with a box of saltine crackers resting on it. She picked up the box and examined it. Who could have possibly left these here?

"Hey, are those my saltines?" Came a voice from the doorway. Turk was standing there in his green scrubs and looking like he had just run a mile.

"Uh, yeah, I guess so," said a confused Rachel. She handed the box to Turk. "You put them in here?"

"Actually, J.D did," he said. "We were playing a round of 'Find the Saltine' and he accidentally left them in here.

J.D? Who's tha- oh, he must mean Dr. Hugsalot. John Dorian – J.D. Got it.

She continued to give Turk a confused sort of look, to which Turk replied with "Dr. Dorian and I have been friends since college," he said. "He's a little quirky, but man, I don't know where I'd be without that guy. I'm Turk, by the way."

"I'm Rachel."

"Wait, are you that Hug girl?" he squealed out in excitement. Rachel wanted to be angry at this, but instead softened, gave a little smile and said, "Yep, that's me."

"J.D just told me about you! He's in love with your last name; I could have sworn I saw him drift as soon as he told me about it.

"Err…drift?"

"Yeah, sometimes he drifts off into his fantasy world and thinks about the most random things. It's amusing to watch. I'm pretty sure he did because when he came to he said "I'm going to need much bigger arms."

Rachel laughed a little. "Sounds like it. I'm pretty sure I can figure out what he might have been thinking, too."

"Well," said Turk, "I'm a surgeon, so our paths may not cross again, I don't know, but I just want to let you know that J.D. is a great doctor. He'll take care of you, no worries. Later." Rachel watched Turk leave the room. Find the saltine? I wonder how you play?

Rachel started to feel better about her situation. She could tell that the doctors here cared a great deal and that she didn't have anything to be afraid of, well, except for her parents, of course. They were bound to make her feel horrible in some way. She leaned back in her bed and gently closed her eyes. Everything is going to be just fine…

Rachel awoke to the sound and gentle touch of someone waking her. "Wake up, sleepy head." She opened her tired eyes to see a nurse standing there. It was Carla. "Good morning," she said. Rachel looked bewildered. Morning already? But I only just-

"You were out for quite a while," Carla told her. "You must have been exhausted. I'm not surprised. Your family came back to see you again yesterday, but they didn't want to wake you. I didn't want to either, but I was just wondering if you would like any breakfast. If not, you can just go back to sleep if you want. There's no rush." Half-dazed and still a little drowsy, Rachel hesitated, and then finally said, "Yeah, ok, I'll take it."

"Alright, I'll be right back," Carla said warmly. "My name is Carla by the way if you need anything," she said, and left the room. Rachel slowly began to come out of her foggy state. Her attitude towards this strange place continued to improve. Carla returned a few minutes later carrying a tray with assorted breakfast items, only this time she wasn't alone.

"You're parents are back," she said. As soon as she had said this both of Rachel's parents clamored into the room. Carla laid the tray of assorted breakfast items in front of Rachel. "Here you go," she said. "I'll be right outside if you need anything else, and your test results should be back soon. I'll send in Doctor Dorian as soon as they are ready." Rachel nodded. "Thanks, Carla."

"Don't sweat it," Carla replied smiling. "It's ok to be a little intimidated. A lot of people are nervous when they first enter a hospital. But let me just tell you that the staff here is great. Your doctor is one of the most caring people I've ever met, and he won't let anything bad happen to you if he's got anything to do with it." Rachel gave a weak, yet confident smile at these words. She nodded again and Carla knew she had done her job. "I'll be around," she said, and left Rachel to deal with her parents yet again. She turned to face them for the first time since they came in the room. She greeted them as warmly as she could. "Hey guys," she said. "Sorry about yesterday. I was exhausted."

"It's ok, we understand," her mother said. She was holding a cloth bag with a dragon printed on the front of it. She eased over and handed it to Rachel. "Here," she said. Rachel carefully lifted the bag open, and gave a look of pure joy at seeing the contents inside. She pulled out a couple of stuffed animals, a notebook and pen, some colored bracelets, and a few other things that kept the smile plastered on Rachel's face. Rachel finally turned her attention away from the bag and its contents to face her parents again. "We knew you'd be bored, and probably a little lonely, so your mother put together some of your favorite things for you," her father said. "You should be grateful." Rachel grimaced slightly at this. Alright, well aside from that snide little comment, things are turning out better than I thought they would. My parents are being really sweet today and I'm not going to pass that up. "Thanks, guys," she said sincerely, and reached out to give her parents a hug. Maybe I was wrong about them after all.

"Oh, come off it," her father snapped. "You're not really thankful for all the hard work that we put in for this; driving over here to see you only to have you fall asleep on us, putting together this nice bag of trash for you, giving up our day just to be patronized."

Rachel was horrified, though not surprised, by this behavior. She hated it when he did this. It was like Jekyll and Hyde with him. Sometimes he would be this really sweet, supportive sensitive father who would look after her no matter what she needed, and other times he would be this overcritical and cynical jerk. There was no way to predict which way it would go. She wasn't sure what caused it, either, though she suspected it had something to do with his grueling job as an attorney.

"I – I'm s-sorry," she stammered, starting to cry. "I d-didn't mean to-"

"Oh yeah, you never MEAN to, but you're always a disrespectful, good for nothing little shi-"

"CHRISTOPHER, STOP DEMEANING OUR DAUGHTER!" her mother bellowed. Both father and daughter turned and gaped in awe at the furious woman, who continued to fume even after her husband had stopped belittling the terrified patient. He then rounded on her and said "You always side with her. You always have. You have no respect for the man of the house. NO REPSECT!" And at that he took his arm and knocked Rachel's untouched breakfast tray clattering to the floor. Pancakes, sausage and orange juice went flying everywhere with a horrifying metallic crash. Rachel's father then left the room with no apology and no sign of guilt or remorse for what he had done. Rachel and her mother just looked at each other with horror and upset on both their faces. Rachel was afraid that something like this would happen, and it appeared that her worst nightmares had come true. Carla then came running to the door in a flash of urgency. "What happened in here?!" She demanded. Rachel and her mother exchanged nervous glances at this seemingly simple question. "Umm, my father sort of…lost his temper," Rachel attempted to explain.

Carla looked furious. "Well, what happened? What did he say? Did he hurt you?

"No…" Rachel said, "He was quite calm, actually, that is, until, well," she motioned toward the contents of her uneaten breakfast on the floor. "Until he did that."

"If there's one thing worse than temperamental patients, its temperamental family members," said an exasperated Carla. "But don't you worry about a thing. I'll send somebody over to clean this up. Do you want me to send up another tray?"

"No, that's ok," Rachel implored. "I'm not really hungry anymore."

"I understand," Carla said, still on high alert. "Are you going to be ok in here?"

Rachel looked at her mom, who smiled nervously. "Yeah, I think so. I'll be fine."

"Ok…" Carla said, not sounding completely convinced of this, but as there was nothing more she could do to remedy the situation, she said "I'll be back later," and left the room. Rachel then looked at her mother.

"Was I disrespectful to him or something?" she asked worriedly. "I really am grateful for the bag."

"I know you are, sweetie," Rachel's mom consoled. "You know how your father gets sometimes. He needs to be put on a tighter leash."

"Yeah, really," Rachel agreed. "I just hope I didn't do anything that warranted any of this."

"You didn't, believe me, you didn't." her mom assured her. "Trust me; there isn't anything you could do to deserve that kind of treatment from anyone, let alone your own father." Rachel's mom sighed and looked at her watch. "Speaking of which, I better go find him. Who knows who he could be harassing now." Mrs. Hug leaned over to her daughter, gave her a quick kiss on the cheek, said "I love you," and left. Rachel then let out one deep, exasperated sigh accompanied by painful tears. I knew this would happen. Why did I go on expecting anything less? Tears continued to stream down the young woman's face. Her newly acquired sense of security and confidence had been stripped away in a matter of seconds. Rachel grabbed the bag that her mother had brought, reached inside and pulled out a couple of tissues. She wiped her eyes as she felt her head begin to throb. There's no way out now…

Rachel's thoughts were interrupted by the arrival of a newcomer. A tall man wearing a dark blue maintenance uniform and an irritated expression on his face entered the room, looking from the crying girl in the bed to the tray of spilled breakfast items lying lifeless on the floor. The Janitor glared at Rachel for over a minute before finally speaking to her…

I hope you are enjoying it so far :) Please review! Thanks.