JD stood at the nurse's station running his hands through his well-styled hair. It was 15 hours into his 16-hour shift and although it wasn't the busiest of nights at the hospital, it certainly wasn't the most calm. First there was the hypochondriac who had his weekly episode. Running every test they needed to in order to just send the guy on his way. Then there were the regular old folks residents who just needed to be taken care of enough to get their temperature down so they could be shipped back to where they belonged. The worst part though was the construction worker. By the time he'd arrived, there'd been very little chance the hospital could save him. He'd tried everything he could, but sometimes there was just nothing left.

As the memories of the night faded away, he finalized the remaining paperwork, folded the clipboard, and filed it away. He'd become a doctor to save lives and help people, but on nights like tonight he didn't really feel like he was making much of a difference.

"Clarabel!"

JD turned around, startled out of his tired state, and saw Dr. Cox aggressively walking towards him. Already having made eye contact, it was too late to walk away as though he didn't hear him. Suppressing a groan that only his inner thoughts could now hear, he tried to allow himself to smile and appear less tired.

"Per-Bear. Wonderful night isn't it?"

Dr. Cox scowled in his usual way. Not having been able to finish his nap in the on call room was really messing with his already bad attitude.

"Now Jasmine. I'm going to ignore that little comment of yours and blame your bad judgment on the fact your brain can only do one job at a time. And seeing as you're at work, I'd like to think that's your first priority. But keep in mind that when speaking to me, I become your first priority. And keep those girl friend nicknames to yourself."

Holding back and eye roll, JD just repeated only one more hour in his brain. Then he could go back to the apartment, turn on Gilmore Girls, and hopefully retire into his bed dreaming of…

Dr. Cox snapped his fingers.

"Can you stay out of dreamland Anna? We only have one more hour in this god-forsaken place and then I can finally watch the basketball game before someone around here ruins the score for me. And in order for us to both get out of here, this is now for you."

"JD grabbed the patient chart as it was thrust into his chest. Great, just what I need. Another patient. Flipping it open he instantly regretted this whole moment. Joshua Carter, age 11, suspected child abuse. Those were the worst cases. Except maybe cancer, or terminal illness in toddlers, or…
Dr. Cox snapped his fingers again.

"God. Can anyone in this place even pretend to be a doctor? Of all the incompetent people I had to get stuck with on this shift it had to be Newbie."

He didn't hear the rest as Dr. Cox stormed away with other charts in his hands. His eyes grazing over the patient chart he now held, he sighed. Looking at his watch, there was under an hour left now. Time to get this over with and see what information he could get from Joshua alone, before the tougher task of moving onto the parents.

Turk and Carla sat snuggled up and comfortable on the sofa. As Carla watched Turk's eyes start to close, she turned off the tv ready to head for bed. Turks eyes immediately shot open.

"Carla, baby, I know you're tired. But can I please stay up another hour so I can see JD when he gets home? We've been on opposite shifts all week and I miss my vanilla bear."

Carla rolled her eyes and got up off the sofa.

"Turk, sometimes I feel as though you and JD are in the relationship and I'm the third wheel. Could I have married into a weirder relationship?"

Her bare feet padded across the floor to the bedroom, closing the door behind her. Turning off the light and getting into bed, she couldn't help but smile. Her man may be connected at the leg to his best friend, but she loved him anyway. Quite frankly, she loved them both.

JD settled down in the chair next to Joshua's bedside. He found in most cases like this, the less the patient viewed him as an authority figure, the more he could usually get out of them. Propping on foot onto his opposite knee and clearing his throat of any tiredness, he jumped into the all too familiar questionnaire.

"So. Joshua. How are you feeling? I can have the nurses bring something for you if you want?"

Joshua looked up. JD hadn't noticed before, but it was obvious now that the boy had been crying. The dark circles under his eyes clearly meant more than just a punch in the face. The kid looked too jittery to be tired, but all the signs of exhaustion were there. Assuming it was fear that was keeping Joshua awake, JD continued.

"You know Josh, if someone's hurting you, you can tell us. We won't make you go back there. We'll find somewhere else for you to be."

"No!" Joshua quietly yelled. "No one's hurting me – didn't my parents tell you already once before? I was snowboarding. I'm not really very good at it yet. I made a lot of mistakes."

JD signed. He knew Joshua was lying He was all too familiar with situations like these. Kids who were more scared of people finding out, than they were of the consequences at home. Not wanting to push Joshua too hard yet, he flipped open his chart again. By the extent of his injuries he'd be here awhile. Sometimes the best plan was to get to know the kid, let them learn to trust you. He might not be the best doctor in this hospital, Dr. Cox would be sure to take the award for himself. But he didn't pride himself on his bedside manner.

"So, snowboarding…" JD paused as he shifted both feet to the floor. "Who's your favorite?"

Joshua's eyes perked up. People here were no longer questioning him. A slight smile showed on his face and to the untrained eye it might seem like he was excited to talk. Neither Joshua nor JD was blind though – they were both playing each other. JD may be familiar with this situation, but sadly so was Joshua.

"I don't really have a favorite." Joshua spoke, with just a hint of enthusiasm to his voice. "But recently while we were on vacation I got to meet Shaun White and it was probably the best moment of my life…"

JD wasn't really listening to Joshua continue. He could tell he wasn't going to get anywhere today. His eyes casually went back and forth between Joshua's moving lips, and his chart. Broken arm in 2 places, bruising on his face and ribs, and a few cuts on his back. Not to mention the previous injuries on file. Pondering internally about how to proceed, he looked back up at the young boy. Lips still moving, seemingly more animated than before. Whatever he was saying clearly had him very excited.

JD hated this. Sure he wanted to help people, but how do you help people who don't want help? Memories playing back to him of previous incidences, he knew he had to get out of there before he spoke to roughly at the kid. Potentially cutting any of the trust he'd just gained. Looking at his watch, he realized there was enough time in his shift to let the hospital staff know his assumption and he'd deal with everything else tomorrow. Standing up to shake the tiredness from his legs, he spoke up. Cutting off Joshua's tale of the best rides during the Shaun White vacation.

"Sorry Joshua, but I've just got to check in on another couple patients before I go home. The nurses will take great care of you while I'm not here. But I'll let you in on a little secret." JD lowered his voice and leaned in over Joshua's bed. "Because you're a kid, if you're nice to them, they'll bring you extra dessert."

JD watched as Joshua's eyes danced with excitement with the possibility of getting extra cake.

"I'll be back in the morning." He said as Joshua yawned. "Try to get some sleep while I'm gone."

Stepping away from the bed, he hung the kids chart up by the door. Dimming the lights, he forced his tired body to make its way to Kelso's office so he could let him know.

"Shouldn't you be clocked out Dr. Dorian?" JD turned around as he heard Kelso yell down the hall.

"I'm about to sir, but I needed to see you. I have a suspected child case. Room 221. I just wanted to let you know before I left."

Kelso's face dropped ever so slightly. No matter how many years he'd been there, it never made those cases any easier.

"Any admissions to anything?"

"I said suspected didn't I? So that answer would be no." JD replied with more attitude then was necessary.

Seeing Kelso's eyes narrow, he immediately regretted his choice words. "I'm sorry sir. I just meant no. The kid wouldn't tell me anything and I have yet to see the parents."

Kelso's eyes softened looking at JD with a bit of concern. He could tell the kid was having a hard night and against his usual nature, just decided to let it go.

"Go home and get some sleep Dorian". He started to walk away. "I'll let the night nurses know to keep an eye out. See you in the morning."

JD watched Kelso turned the corner and gave a loud sigh. Finally. The shift was over and he could go home. Forcing his body to take him to the locker room, his mind started to wander. Tilting his head to the side he imagined how much easier it would be if he could just float there. Instead of using the last bit of energy he had just to get dressed into his street clothes.

Not really paying attention, he slammed into Dr. Cox as they both tried to enter the locker room at the same time.

"Newbie I swear to god if you don't keep your hands off me I'm going to cut them off." Dr. Cox growled.

JD quickly backed away and let Dr. Cox in first, too tired to come up with any sort of remark. Just a couple more minutes and you'll be out that door.