AN: #6 in The Great One-Shot Expulsion series...Warnings for mentions of incest and a character death.
Disclaimer: I do not own the television show Scrubs. I do not own the characters of the television show Scrubs.
Seven, Eight, Lay Them Straight:
"Give it to me straight, Coxie," Dan demands in no more than a mere whisper as he stares at the pale, sickly form lying in a hospital bed.
Perry shifts on his feet uncomfortably, crossing his arms and lowering his gaze to his worm tennis shoes. Despite the 36-hour shift he has just recently clocked out of, he is still here at Sacred Heart.
"He was found a few blocks from our apartment building in an alley," the doctor explains slowly, softly. "The police are calling it a mugging."
"Do they know who did it?" the other man asks witheringly, his shoulders sagging.
"They have some leads," Perry nods. "A witness was able to give an accurate description...I don't think it will do much, though."
A silence coats the room for a long moment before Dan speaks again.
"He's not going to wake up, is he?"
Perry takes in a sharp breath, holding it in for a few seconds. He feels like a kid again—holding his breath and wishing with all his might for a new baseball glove for Christmas. He never did get one. And he'll stake his life that wishing won't do them any good now.
"No," he admits, swallowing hard. "It's not likely."
Suddenly, the door tot the small room opens, and Perry turns, finding JD leaning exhaustedly against the frame.
"Hey," he says huskily, hesitantly entering and sidling up next to the older man. "How's he doing?" They both look back to the bed, where Dan Dorian lies almost lifelessly amidst the crisp, hospital-issue sheets.
Perry sighs, wrapping an arm around JD's shoulders and saying, "His vitals are still dropping...It doesn't look good."
JD nods, slipping from Perry's arm and making his way to the side of Dan's bed. "Hey, big brother," he whispers with a shaky smile. "I just wanted to say I'm sorry." A few tears break free of the young man's eyes, curving over his cheek bones and dripping from his chin to the while pillow beneath Dan's head. "God, I'm so sorry." He ducks his head and silently sobs for a moment before looking back up, slowly leaning down to his brother's ear. "You know I love you, right?"
"JD," Perry says softly from across the room, "we should go. Your mother's plane will be landing soon."
"Okay," the younger doctor replies, heading towards the door. Perry places a kiss on his temple before he leaves.
"Be out in just a minute." He smiles sadly. JD nods and sluggishly makes his way out of the room.
"Coxie," Ghost Dan says from the corner of the room, his voice small and vulnerable, "you have to help JD. You have to figure out who did this. He has to know this isn't his fault. He can't—"
"Dan," Perry interrupts calmly, his hands in his pockets, "I already know who did this."
Ghost Dan looks confused and hurt and expectant as he takes a step forward. "I thought you said the police—"
"They don't," the older man says wearily, "and they won't."
"I don't understand," Dan whispers, shaking his head. "I don't..."
"We can't both have him," Perry explains gently, extracting a small syringe from his coat pocket and heading towards the IV line beside the hospital bed.
"You," the other breathes incredulously, his tone laced with betrayal. "You did this to me." Perry says nothing, removing the cap of the syringe with his teeth and tapping the object a couple of times before injecting the clear liquid into the line. "What's that? What are you doing?"
"In a few minutes, your heart is going to stop," the doctor says conversationally around the cap between his teeth, then removing it from his mouth to recap the empty syringe and stow it away in his pocket once more. "JD and I should be gone by then."
"This is a joke, right?" Ghost Dan attempts a laugh, swallowing when Perry shows no signs of humor. "Coxie?...How could you do this? Why are you doing this? You're a doctor! You're supposed to help people!"
"He asked me to," Perry says to quietly that Dan almost doesn't hear it.
"Wh-What?"
Perry, suddenly, turns to him, staring him down with fire-filled eyes. "I know who you are, Dan Dorian," he seethes in a dangerous tone. "i know what you did to him when he was younger. He told me everything."
Ghost Dan's eyes widen, and he takes a step back. "Th-That? But...It was only a couple of times..."
"Dozens," the older man counters fiercely. "It was dozens of times. And he remembers. He remembers every single time."
Dan cannot speak. His mouth hands open in an attempt to find something—anything—to argue his case. But there is nothing. There is no excuse.
Perry growls low in his throat before whipping around and stomping out of the room. It takes a moment for Dan to follow, but he does. Loudly.
"Coxie!" he screeches, loud enough to wake whole hospital—if the hospital could hear him, that is.
The heart monitor beside the bed begins to beep erratically, and Ghost Dan's chest tightens. He runs from the room, watching Perry and JD as the exit the hospital, the older man's arm around the younger Dorian's waist.
"Perry!" Dan screams before the heart monitor wails.