My Muse

Disclaimer: Scrubs does not belong to me.

Notes: The story takes place during Perry's intern days. Doctor Benson is Perry's mentor, as introduced in episode 1x09.

"Percival," Doctor Benson said. "Come in here, I want to talk to you for a minute."

Perry bared his teeth in annoyance at being called by his full name, but entered the patient's room nonetheless. "Hi there, Doctor Benson," he muttered with some grudging respect. He had proven to be a good mentor to him for the past couple of months, after all. "What can I do ya for?"

The other man smiled at Perry before glancing down at the bedridden patient beside him. The boy had short auburn hair and freckles along the bridge of his nose, and the skin under his eyes was dark. Perspiration glistened on his forehead, and his lips were dry to the point of scabbing.

"Perry, this is Billy," Doctor Benson said. He gently clapped the boy on the shoulder, smiling at him. "Billy, this is your doctor, Doctor Cox. He's going to take real good care of you, son."

Perry frowned, following Doctor Benson as he exited the room. "Doctor Benson, I don't think I understand. I've already had patients assigned to me."

"Consider yourself relieved of those patients, Perry," the older man said, handing him Billy's chart. "Over the past few months, you've shown excellent prowess in diagnosis. I think this is a good case for you."

"Has someone done a standard check-up on him, Doc?" he asked.

"The very standard," Doctor Benson said with a nod. "A nurse came in to look over the boy, but don't be afraid to get to know him yourself." He smiled, giving the young man a pat on the shoulder. "Carry on, then."

Perry nodded, tucking the chart under his arm as he reentered the boy's room. "Heya, Billy," he said with a friendly grin. He took the chair situated at the corner of the room and dragged it to the kid's bedside, taking a seat. "I'm Doctor Cox. I'll be taking care of you."

The young boy turned his head to look at him with wide, frightened eyes.

Perry frowned a little at the boy's silence before his genial smile slipped back on. Probably nervous, poor kid. "Let's look over your chart, buddy, huh?" He flipped it open and read through the notes the last nurse had recorded, wincing as he did so. No wonder the kid wasn't talking -- there were lesions all over the inside of his mouth. "Is your mom or dad here with you, Billy? I'd like to talk to them about how you're feeling, if that's okay."

Billy nodded, outstretching his hand and pointing downwards.

"Are they in the cafeteria?" Perry asked.

The young boy shook his head before putting his index and middle finger to his mouth, tapping them to his lips.

"They're on a smoke break, are they?" Perry guessed, and cringed as the young boy nodded. "Alright, how about this? I'll get you some prescription Tylenol and we'll see if the pain lets up. We can talk to your parents about everything you're feeling right now, because it's important to let everyone know what's happening to you so we can fix ya up, okay, buddy?"

Billy looked thoughtful at first, and then he nodded.

Perry smiled, patting the kid on the shoulder before leaving the chart at its place at the foot of the bed. He went to the supply closet for a packet of Tylenol and then filled a plastic pitcher with water in the doctor's lounge. By the time he'd returned to Billy's room, a man and a woman whom he suspected to be his parents were sitting by the kid's bedside.

"Hi, I'm Doctor Cox," Perry greeted them, placing the pitcher and the sample packet of Tylenol on Billy's overbed table. "Are you Billy's parents?"

"We are," the woman replied, outstretching her hand. Perry took it and gave it a shake. "I'm Liana, and this is my husband, John."

"Have you given Billy any medicine in the past six hours? I was hoping I could give him a dose of Tylenol to see if the pain in his mouth would let up. Maybe he could feel more comfortable talking."

John nodded. "Yeah, we gave him children's Tylenol a little over three hours ago. His fever went down, but the pain is still unbearable for him."

"Fair enough," Perry said with a nod. "We'll wait for the medication you gave him to run its course. I'll hand this off to the nurse's station and they'll give it to him in three hours or so. Are there any symptoms other than the ones that he's presented with that I should be worried about?"

"It's just the fever and the blisters in his mouth," John said with a shake of his head. "The fevers can spike pretty high, though. The last one he had was around 102.5."

Perry smiled at Billy. "Looks like you're channeling radio stations, huh, kid?" he chuckled. He nodded at Billy's parents. "Don't worry. I'll take care of him. Is one or both of you staying with him while he's here?"

"I'm afraid not," Liana said, gently caressing her son's face when he made a flustered noise. "We both work, but we'll stay until visiting hours are over today."

Billy sniffled, his wide blue eyes filling with tears as he reached out for his parents. John made a soft cooing noise, sitting down beside him on the bed and giving him a hug.

"I'm sorry, Billy," John said apologetically. "Your mother and I are going to work something out so you won't be alone every night. But Doctor Cox is a good doctor, and there are nurses all around if you need something, okay?"

Perry looked on, feeling increasingly sorry for the kid. "I'll do my best," he told them.

"Thank you, doctor," Liana said with a smile that didn't reach her eyes. She kissed the top of her son's head.

--

Perry returned to Billy's room soon after a nurse had told him that she'd administered the Tylenol. John was sitting by the kid's bedside.

"How's he doing?" Perry asked.

"More or less the same," John sighed, carding his fingers through the boy's sweat-dampened hair.

"I know a nurse checked him over before, but I'd like to look him over myself if you don't mind," he said.

John nodded. "That's fine." He looked at Billy. "Doctor Cox is just going to look at you, okay? I'll be right here."

Perry looked at the kid's eyes and nose, but had some trouble getting him to open his mouth. He decided to save that for a later time. "Can I look at your tummy, Billy?"

Billy nodded, raising his gown up.

Perry palpated the kid's abdominal area, frowning when he found a little swelling on the left side of the boy's stomach.

John caught Perry's facial expression. "Is something the matter, Doc?"

"I feel a bit of swelling over here," Perry told him. "That'd be the pancreas. Now that I think about it, the lesions in his mouth and his scabby lips are symptoms similar to that of Kawasaki disease, which can affect the pancreas. I'll be sure to look into it." He glanced at Billy. "I know it hurts, but can you try drinking some water, Billy? It'll help to flush out the infection some."

"He's been complaining about pain when he swallows," John said as the young boy cringed.

"I'll get you some ice water," Perry said. "It could numb the pain down some, okay?"

Billy nodded. Perry left the room.

--

It was after two in the morning when Perry finally slinked into the on-call room. He couldn't sleep, however, knowing how much pain Billy was in and how vague the symptoms were. It was hard to keep up his cheerful expression when he was so frustrated.

He sighed, slipping out of the small cot. Perry ran a hand through his curls as he headed for the doctor's lounge. There were a few books there that he could possibly look over.

He was not even halfway through a medical encyclopedia for autoimmune disorders when he felt as though someone was watching him. Perry snorted at the notion. He hadn't even heard anyone come in! Maybe he was just tired. He glanced at his wrist watch wearily, finding that it was a little after 3:30 in the morning.

"I don't think it's Kawasaki disease," a voice piped up across from him.

Perry jumped, startled. He glanced across the table with wide eyes, finding a young man with blue eyes and spiky black hair. "Jesus Christ, who the hell are you?"

The man smiled. "Sorry for frightening you," he said sheepishly. "Um, I'm your muse."

"Run that by me one more time?" Perry asked, rubbing his face with his hands. He watched the dark haired man wring his hands nervously.

"Well, it's my first time doing this. Showing up, I mean. But I've always been with you and I've helped you all through med school--"

"What?" Perry demanded, quite awake now.

He scratched at his chin. "Uh, have you ever watched Xanadu?"

He stared. "Kid, are you from the psych ward or something? 'Cause whether or not you are, I'm about to call security." He shook his head, rising from his seat.

"Wait, Perry!" JD cried, and Perry stopped in his tracks.

"How do you know my name?" he asked, narrowing his eyes.

"Well, for one, it's stitched onto your lab coat," the other man said matter-of-factly.

Perry made an irritated noise, stalking towards the door with a roll of his eyes.

"I know you don't like it when Doctor Benson calls you Percival 'cause it reminds you of your dad," he said quietly. When Perry swung around to stare at him, he gave an apologetic grin. "Sorry! I didn't mean to aim so low, I mean, you were gonna call security on me--"

"Who are you?" Perry demanded.

"My name is JD," the other man said. "I'm your muse."

"Muse," Perry snorted, crossing the room to sit across from the other man again. "Muse as in one of those goddesses straight out of Greek mythology," he deadpanned. He narrowed his eyes at him. "Shouldn't you be a girl?"

JD rolled his eyes, waving his hand dismissively. "Common misconception."

"And why are you here?" Perry asked, still sounding incredulous.

"Well, you've been stuck on Billy's case since he got here," JD said, a bit shyly. "I figured that maybe I could help." He grinned, standing up. "I found these scrubs in the hamper outside! How do they look?"

Perry watched the other man twirl around, showcasing the blue pair of scrubs he was wearing. "You sure you aren't a girl?" he growled.

TBC...