My Mentor's Memory Loss

by TheRealKuni

An accident leaves Dr. Cox missing a large part of his life and JD feeling guitly as he sees a side of his mentor he never thought he'd see.

My Mentor's Memory Loss
By: Kuni

Disclaimer: Don't own it. Don't sue. Have a nice dizzay.

Thanks to JacksBoonie for the beta.

JD looked at the chart for what some would call the millionth time that day, and maybe the trillionth time that week. No progress during the ten hours he hadn't been at the hospital. Damn. He turned his head towards the heart monitor to see the still slow but steady heartbeat.

He took another look around the room and saw that everything was exactly in place as it had been before he left the previous morning. JD frowned because that meant no visitors. He'd been left alone this entire time, his only company was the occasional nurse and possibly the neurologist.

"JD."

He snapped out of his thoughts and turned around to see Denise standing in the doorway. "You're here a couple of hours early." JD tried to hide how elated he was to see his favorite intern there.

"Sunny convinced me to come in and help cover your patients for an hour or two since you're- you know- concerned about him."

"Thanks." JD eagerly handed her a couple of other charts he had.

"Howie said no one came to see him today."

"I figured that." His eyes went from her face to her shoes.

"You know I suck at this whole emotional thing but you do need to stop beating yourself up about it. This wasn't you're fault. I mean I don't really know him that well but seeing who he is it wouldn't surprise me if he woke up today." Denise did her best to fake a smile before awkwardly patting him on the shoulder

"Thanks, Denise."

"Just don't make me do that again please." She bolted out of the room.

JD immediately closed the door and plopped down in one of the empty seats next to the bed. He scrubbed a hand over his face and frowned at the feeling of the stubble. "Maybe it's time to finally shave this thing off." No smart ass answer from the bed, just the sound of the steady beat of the heart monitor. "You keep a good beat that's for sure." He'd always tell the families that it was good to talk to coma patients while they were in this state, that they could hear them.

Well now was good a time as ever to hope the man in the bed could hear him. "Dr. Cox? I wanted to- I have- I'm sorry. I really am." He sighed as he continued to watch the monitors with anxious eyes.

The night Perry had been brought in they didn't think he was going to make it. The Chief of Medicine had been hit by a drunk driver on the way home from the bar Yes, Perry Cox, an admitted alcoholic, had nearly been killed by a drunk driver. The worst part about it was that he hadn't even had anything to drink that night.

The night- that whole day- was still fresh in JD's mind…

One Week Ago…

It'd been a fairly tough day for him. Carla was pressuring JD to talk to Dr. Cox about hiring a few extra nurses. Judging by the mood the Chief of Medicine was in when he walked through the doors that morning, it wouldn't be a fun time.

The "GO AWAY" sign that was plastered to the office door was another warning sign that he should just let it go. In fact he stood there staring at the door for five minutes before he finally got the courage to knock.

"Read the sign, jackass!"

This was not going to be pretty.

JD turned the handle of the door, finding it surprisingly unlocked. He stepped into the room, careful to watch for flying objects. "Dr. Cox listen-"

"Oh God, as if my day COULD NAWT get any worse." Dr. Cox looked up from his paperwork with a snarl on his face. "Listen, Joan, I don't care what you and whatever worthless peon thinks the hospital needs today. I've got the board breathing down my neck about being over budget, I've got drug company reps leaving me roughly 200 messages a day to talk to me about using their overpriced medications, I've got three malpractice lawsuits I have to look over which I know we'll lose because TED is our lawyer and to top it off; I think the plastic surgeon who gives Jordan her Botox gave her a bonus BITCH SHOT this month because while Jordan was previously understanding of my being unable to be home every night and tuck the kids in bed she suddenly decided in her martin-fueled stupor last night that I'm not being a good enough father to our children. So, now that you know how I'm feeling this morning you have ten seconds to get out of this room before I jump over this desk, tie you up, duct tape your mouth shut, dress you up in a school girl uniform and stand you across the street so the construction crew can whistle and make cat calls at you for the next six hours.

JD blinked, processing the rant. "He wouldn't really dress me up as a school girl."

As if reading his thoughts Dr. Cox replied with. "Yes I would."

Normally JD would've gotten the hell out of there, but today he was feeling brave. "Carla says we need some more nurses. This mandatory overtime is killing everyone."

His eyes twitched, and the next thing JD new he had duct tape over his mouth while Dr. Cox tried to tape his hands together. "Hold still." The door to the room opened as soon as he was thrown onto the couch.

"Listen Per I'm-" Jordan stopped talking once she saw the scene before her.

JD was laying flat on his stomach while Perry straddled him with a roll of silver duct tape. He knew it was futile to ask her help, but damn it he was going to try anyway. "Jornen hepf me!"

"Oh how cute, cheating on me with your little secretary. You could've picked one with a nicer rack though."

JD just moaned in defeat as he buried his face in the couch.

"What do you want She-Devil?"

"I'm giving you some alone time, So I'm taking the kids and going to my mother's for a week."

Perry jumped up off the couch and roughly pulled JD to his feet. "Do me a favor and give Katie here a little makeover?"

"With pleasure."

Four hours later, JD was still trying to get the electric blue eye shadow off. It didn't help that the bar tender already thought he was gay from the appletinis. "The color really brings out your eyes."

"Shut up." Two appletinis later,the last person he wanted to see showed up. "Awesome."

"Oh, Tyra, you look absolutely adorable."

And that was it, the straw that broke the camel's back. "Listen, you arrogant jackass, I am so sick of the girls names and I am sick of the disrespect you've shown me all of these years. I actually have started to lay awake at night wondering why the hell I ever looked up to you and wanted you to be my mentor. I've come to the conclusion that I've been just downright delusional and in a huge amount of denial because I'm pretty sure in your mind you'll probably never see me as an equal or a friend. And unlike the last time I said this I mean it. I am out."

"Now that's a load of crap. You'll come crawling-"

"Oh for fucks sake, shut the hell up!" JD took a deep breath as he watched Dr. Cox actually startle at the tone of his voice. "I might consider transferring to another hospital to just get away from you. I'm not going to take your bullshit and come back as your smiling little Newbie anymore. Carla and the rest of the staff can find someone else to be their champion and stand up to you because I'm through doing that. The less I see you the better because quite frankly…" The words tumbled out of mouth before he had a chance to even think about what he was saying. God knew that maybe he didn't mean all of what he was saying but what flew out next… "I hate you!"

Dr. Cox's reaction wasn't what he was expecting- he was expecting him to fire back with some kind of snide remark, a snarl, maybe even punch him. But what happened was something he wasn't use to seeing, a silent Perry Cox. The older doctor's eyes were fixed on the bar, a slight frown on his face. When he finally lifted his head his eyes were squinted, his eyebrows drawn down, his teeth clenched. He slid off his barstool before he threw it against the bar with animalistic growl.

Throughout the entire rant JD had been watching his face- it'dbeen having little to no effect on him until he'd uttered those three words…

"I hate you!"

"Oh God!" He hadn't really meant it; he was just frustrated and angry. But Dr. Cox knew that even though he said he was done with their relationship, he'd come… CRAWLING back. JD didn't want to seem pathetic for once and then that rant just came out. "Damn it." He slapped a twenty on the table and took off like a rocket out of the bar.

He'd just stepped out into the parking lot and spotted Dr. Cox across the street opening the door to his Porsche. "Dr. Cox! Wait!"

The older man turned around to face him with… a hurt look. He shook his head and turned back to the car just as a revving engine was heard flying down the street, followed by police sirens.

The scene moved in slow motion for JD as a yellow and blue Honda Civic came screeching up, crossing the yellow line and slamming right into the Porsche that Dr. Cox had been climbing into.

The next few hours were a blur as JD waited for the ambulance, climbed into the ambulance with Dr. Cox and took him to Sacred Heart. He'd stayed most of the night with him. He'd tried to get in touch with Jordan who had turned her cell phone off and hadn't made it to her mother's yet.

When JD had finally gotten a hold of her she promised she'd be down the next day. That didn't happen but she finally showed up three days later.

"We're not expecting him to wake up for a couple of weeks."

"Is everything okay with him?"

"A couple of broken ribs, a broken right arm and a concussion." JD himself was amazed that was the extent of his injuries. "He's actually pretty lucky."

"He's in a coma!"

"He could be dead."

"So you think it'll be a couple of weeks before he wakes up?"

"At least."

"I guess I'll be back in a couple of days to check up on him."

Back to that day…

It'd been three days by this point and no sign of Jordan. Trying to keep the entire hospital out of the room had been a bit of a chore the first few days but eventually it calmed down. Now only an occasional employee peeked their head in to see how the Chief of Medicine was doing.

JD reached over and looked at the chart for yet again. This time he saw something he hadn't noticed previously. He really hadn't expected to see any new information from the previous night. The neurologist had ordered a CT scan and the results weren't that good.

"Damage to the hippocampus." The first thing that popped into his mind was amnesia. The damage according to the chart wasn't severe, so the effects would thankfully be temporary.

"Now all I have to do is wait for you to-" He stopped when his ears picked up a faint change in the beeping of the heart monitor. "No way." He saw movement in the face of the man lying in the bed. "Dr. Cox?"

"Mmm…"

"Perry… Come on. Wake up."

Dr. Cox's eyes fluttered open and he blinked a few times and hissed. JD took that as a sign that it was too bright in the room and shut off the light. "Shhhii… ungh." His eyes opened and he looked around the room. "Oh…" He raised a hand to his head. "My… shit….everything."

"I'll get you some pain killers here in a little bit. I just have to ask you a few questions first."

His response was a half whine, half moan. "Hurry up."

"I'll just let you get a bit more awake here, I want to make sure you're not gonna fall back asleep on me." After making sure Dr. Cox was fully awake, JD began asking the usual questions. "Full name."

"Percival Ulysses Cox."

"Date and place of birth."

"November 6th 1960, somewhere in Pennsylvania."

"Occupation?"

"I'm a-" Dr. Cox stopped for a minute. "Doctor." He then mumbled something under his breath that JD didn't catch.

"What was that?"

"N-nothing, sorry."

And that sent up a red flag in the younger doctor's mind. "No, I was just wondering what you said, if you're in a lot of pain I can get you a percocet now and it should start kicking in by the time I'm done."

"I just said- sort of." Now he was fiddling with his hands not making eye contact.

"Sort of what?"

"I'm sort of a doctor."

"What year do you think it is?"

"1985?"

"Holy crap." JD took a few deep breaths. "Listen, Dr. Cox, I'm gonna go get the neurologist and psychologist."

Before he could leave the room he was interrupted by a shout. WAIT!"

JD turned around at the urgency in the older man's voice. He sounded scared and that wasn't something he was used to. "Yeah?"

"It's not 1985 is it? What happened? Where am I?"

"You're a doctor right?"

Dr. Cox nervously clenched the sheets. "I just started my internship six months ago."

JD couldn't believe what just came out of his mentor's mouth. In his mind, he was just a lowly intern. "When a patient has amnesia it's best not to feed them any information until after they've been evaluated." The wide eyes on the older man's face said it all- the Perry Cox in that bed was not the same Perry Cox he knew. "I'm going to go page the psych eval and the neurologist but I'll be right back, I promise."

"'Kay."

JD rushed out of the room and right up to the Nurse's Station. "CARLA!"

She turned around in her chair munching on a bag of potato chips. "How is he, Bambi?"

"He's awake."

"Really? I'm gonna have-"

"Carla give him some Percoset. Also page Dr. Lucas and Dr. Paulson."

Carla dropped the chips and shot up. "What's wrong with him?"

"He's had a bit of memory loss."

"How much?"

"Almost 25 years worth?"

"Oh my God."

"He thinks it's 1985 and he thinks he's still an intern." JD looked around the ICU. "Where the hell are Sunny and Denise?"

"Helping tie down Mr. Brack in room 403- he pulled out his stitches with his teeth again."

"I'm going to ask them and Elliot to cover my patients for a few extra hours. I need to make Dr. Cox top priority."

"Because he's the Chief or because you feel guilty?"

"A little bit of both."

"Go get something to eat, I'll keep him company until you get back."

"Don't talk too much alright?" JD headed towards the cafeteria. "He'll get confused and God knows what'll happen."

Carla stepped into the room to see Perry about to dose off. "Hey you, wake up. You have to stay conscious until Dr. Lucas and Dr. Paulson get here." She handed him a cup of water and a pill as she sat down on the bed. "This should help."

"Thank you!" He eagerly took the cup and pain killer.

"I'll get you something to eat here in a little bit."

"The doctor said I have amnesia, and judging by the look on his face when I told him what year it was, I lost a lot of my memory." Perry looked down at his hands and frowned as he inspected them. "Listen uh…" He leaned forward and looked at her name tag. "Carla? I'll tell them you told, but could you…" He took a deep breath and almost bashfully scratched the back of his neck. "What year is it? I have to know."

"You know I shouldn't be telling you this." Carla said in her motherly tone.

"Please!" Perry's tone was urgent, fearful, he was begging. "That's all I want to know, and I'll ask any other questions after the evaluation!"

"Fine." Carla braced herself for his reaction. "It's 2009."

"2009?" His breathing became shallow and quick as he hunched over and put his head in his hands. "Shit."

"Dr. Cox calm down." She moved closer and wrapped her arms around him while she gently rubbed circles his back. "JD won't be happy if he finds out I got you worked up."

"JD?"

"I'm sorry. He was the doctor that was taking care of you when you woke up. I made him go get something to eat, he's been running himself into the ground since you got here." She finally pulled away after a few more seconds and that's when he got a good look at her name tag.

"I'm at Sacred Heart?"

"Yeah, you are." Carla smiled warmly as she patted him on the shoulder. That's when she noticed something, some moisture at the corner of Perry's eyes. "Oh sweetie, are you crying?"

His hands immediately went to his eyes as he wiped the tears away. "No."

Shirley opened the door. "Carla, I just got a phone call. Three of the nurses were carpooling and they got into an accident."

Carla gave him a warm smile. "Listen, I have to go, but JD should be back in a few minutes." She slid off the bed and slipped out the door.

Meanwhile JD was down in the Coffeebucks scarfing down a sandwich. "I'm so glad they decided to start making real food here. This totally kicks the cafeteria's ass."

Kelso was sitting across from him, watching in disgust. "The last time I saw someone inhale food like that was when I bought Enid an ice cream cake for our 30th anniversary."

"I haven't eaten anything since yesterday!" JD said with a mouth full of food. He swallowed the huge chunk of sandwich and took a drink of his coffee. "Carla made me come down here to eat, I'm trying to hurry before Dr. Cox meets with the neurologist and Dr. Paulson."

"Perry's up? Why didn't you say anything before?"

JD belched. "I was starving."

"How is he?"

"He thinks he's an intern again."

Kelso didn't reply, instead he got lost in thought for minute before an evil grin spread across his face. "Thinks he's an intern, huh?"

"Yeah he lost almost 25 years of his life. You have any idea how scary that is?"

"No but I have an idea about how much scarier it can be" He turned to the barista at the counter. "Donnie! Banana-nut please!" He caught the muffin with relative ease and stood up from the table. "If you'll excuse me, I think I'll pay Perry a visit." He tossed the muffin up and down a few times.

"Bob, I don't think that's a good idea. He just woke up not too long ago, and I think it'd be best if he didn't have visitors for the next couple of days."

He collapsed back into his chair. "You're no fun." He started to pick at the muffin. "You're awfully concerned about someone you told you hate a week ago."

"You heard about that?"

"News spreads fast in a place like this." Kelso settled into his chair and looked off into the distance like he was reminiscing. "I remember the first time Perry told me he hated me. I never would've-" He stopped and looked over at JD. "Donnie, another one of these please!" He caught the muffin and handed it to him. "Give this to Perry, don't forget to tell him it's from Dr. Kelso."

JD swallowed the final bits of his meal and downed the rest of his coffee before snatching the muffin and going back to Dr. Cox's room. The door was shut and he knocked gently on it before opening it. "Dr. Cox?" Inside Dr. Paulson was already busy asking Dr. Cox questions. "Sorry." JD decided not to interrupt and quietly shut the door.

He waited outside for ten more minutes before Carla finally came along. "Dr. Lucas said he'd be up in a half hour."

"How was he after I left?"

She didn't bother too look at him. "He's a little freaked out."

"Carla, what did you tell him?"

"He was begging me to tell me what year it was. The only other information he knows is my name and that he's at Sacred Heart."

"I told you not to tell him anything. Why'd you have to tell him where he was?"

Carla removed her name tag and waved it in front of his face. "Dr. Cox can still read."

"Oh."

Just then the door opened and Dr. Paulson stuck his head out. "Dr. Dorian, if you could come in for a moment."

JD slipped in before quietly closing the door. He sat the muffin on the table next to Dr. Cox. "It's a present from Dr. Kelso." He was puzzled by the older doctor's reaction, he stared at the pastry as if it were dipped in small pox.

"It's retrograde amnesia."

God he hated calling in for the psych evaluation. Any idiot who graduated from med school could've called this one. "Brilliant diagnosis."

The sarcasm was lost on Dr. Paulson. "The neurologist may ask for another CT scan but I'm positive this won't be permanent." He stood up from his chair and shook Dr. Cox's hand and JD's. "Perry, I hope to see you back at work soon." With that he left.

"Not permanent. That's good." Dr. Cox was still staring at the muffin. "This is from Dr. Kelso?"

"Don't worry, he didn't poison it or anything. You don't have to eat it, I'd rather start you out on a liquid diet for a day or two."

A loud gurgling sound was heard as Perry moaned. "Oh man…"

"Must be the Percocet. I'll go get you some crackers, unless you'd rather eat the muffin."

He grabbed the muffin and sniffed it a few times before he picked at it. "So now that the headshrinker is gone, can I ask some questions?"

"It can't hurt."

Perry held up his left hand. "I'm married right?"

JD started to answer with no but realized a further explanation was required. "Well, you were married, but then you two were divorced for about two years and then you got back together. Then you both just kinda started wearing your rings again, I don't know why."

Perry quirked an eyebrow obviously confused. "Right… So… Can you tell me if my ex-wife is the hot nurse that was in here earlier?"

"Carla? No, she's married to my best friend, Turk. Although I've heard you say she is the only person in the hospital that seems to get you. Plus I'm pretty sure you had the hots for her."

"So who is she?"

"I have no idea if you knew her when you were an intern. Jordan Sullivan?"

Perry almost choked on his muffin. After a few hacks he finally managed to get it down his throat before his eyes bugged out. "Jor- Jordan? I was married to her?"

"Yeah."

"Which means I'm banging her, right?"

"I would assume that since you have two kids."

He clenched his fist and closed his eyes before whispering, "Yes!" He then looked at the muffin in his hands. "Dr. Kelso still works here?"

"He retired as Chief of Medicine last year."

The door opened and in stepped a younger man with glasses and blonde hair. "Hello Dr. Cox, I'm Dr. Lucas." He took the chart out from the end of the bed. "So we have retrograde amnesia. I noticed the damage to the hippocampus on the scan. It's not too severe but it'll still be a couple of weeks before the memory starts returning."

"That's it?" Perry didn't seemed too pleased that was all the neurologist had to say.

The small grin Dr. Lucas had when he came in disappeared at the annoyance in his tone. He nervously cleared his throat and pulled at his collar. "Pr- pretty much. We can discharge you in a couple of days. I do want you on bed rest for the next few days and after that light duty for the next week. Don't worry about trying to recover your memories this quickly but if something does come to your mind just relax and let it come. After a couple of weeks I highly suggest you take Dr. Paulson's advice."

"What was that?" JD asked.

"He said after a couple of weeks I should try to come back to work but he wants me to just shadow one of the other doctors until everything comes back."

"Sounds like a good idea."

Perry yawned. "You think so?"

"Yeah and it looks like the Percocet is kicking in. Anything else Dr. Lucas?"

"That's it." He shook JD's and Perry's hands. "It'll be great to have you back sir." He said with a fake smile on his face. He then turned to JD and whispered. "It is going to suck when he's back to his old self."

Perry waited until the neurologist left before asking another question. "Is it just me or is that guy a little edgy?"

JD felt like telling him the truth- it was because Dr. Lucas, like a lot of the staff, were intimidated even terrified by him. But he realized it was best to let him find out on his own. "He's neurologist, those guys tend to be just a little off." He went over and checked the IV fluid. "We'll finish out this bag and when you wake up I'll have the hot nurse bring you some broth."

And then out of the corner of his eye, he saw Perry Cox… blush? "Yeah can we keep that between us please?" He seemed downright embarrassed about it.

"Alright. Get some rest. If you need anything, I'll be around. You got any more questions you think I need to answer let me know."

"Thanks Dr. uh-"

"It's Dor-" He paused realizing that Dr. Cox had no prior memory of their relationship, which meant… "It's Dr. Dorian but you can call me JD you know, seeing as how we work together and all. We're colleagues, we're equals."

"Uh, sure… Thanks, JD."

JD immediately turned around to hide the huge grin on his face. "It's like a choir of angels coming off his lips." He left the room and skipped over to Carla. "Good evening, Nurse Espinosa."

The Latina nurse knew something was up. "What is it?"

"Keep an eye on Perry, will you? I'm going to go check on the interns."

"If that smile got any bigger it'd break your face in half." The Latina nurse snapped her fingers before he could go off on some random daydream. "Did you trick him into thinking you two are best friends?"

JD's smile disappeared and turned to a look of absolute disgust. "Absolutely not. Why would you think I would try to make Perry think that maybe we were best friends so much so that I hang out at his apartment every weekend and we play tennis together?"

"JD!"

"I'm kidding. Do you know what would happen once he got his memory back?" He tilted his head and went off into a fantasy.

JD is tied up to a pole on a tennis court with a tennis racket taped to each hand. Across the court Perry stands behind an automatic server. "Now Serena we have to work on your receiving. So you just try to hit as many of these as possible." He clicks the button on the remote and JD is bombarded with tennis balls. The assault becomes so powerful that the pole he is tied to is knocked over. The balls finally stop coming and Perry walks up to him. "Same time next week, Venus?"

JD flashed out of the day dream. "If only that were the first time I'd end up with ball shaped bruises all over me."