so, here's a new story i wanted to try. now i have to warn you, this story is solely for my enjoyment only. it could never, ever happen in the actual show. it's completely some crazy idea my twisted mind has compiled and put into words. so, obviously, it had to be put onto fanfiction! please r&r!

Summary: JD, after disappearing for weeks, is found with the strangest new appearence. He can't 'fix' it and no one but Dr. Cox can know about it, So, can JD hide his big secret or will it leak out? And if it does, will it end up doing more damage than he ever imagined possible?

Rating: I'll stick with the T rating just so I have room to stretch my imagination. No rated M moments, though I might put those parts in a serperate fic so I can keep this one available to the the majority of the fanfic readers.

Regular text.

"Speaking."

Thinking.

(Author's notes within story.)

My Furry Tale

Chapter One: My Friend, We Meet Again

The air was cold and stale, yet had a thick quality to it that seemed to weigh down one's chest and limbs if inhaled. Here in the forbidding gloom was a dark cell, much like one would find in prison. In the furthermost corner, wrapped up in inky shadows, a creature stirred. Its body was growing numb as the bare cement of the floor sucked heat from its body like the insatiable hunger of some terrible beast. Chains clinked together, hanging from the metal collar around its neck. With its back against the wall, it had pulled its knees to its chest in a futile attempt to retain some scrap of warmth.

There was a sudden sound, like the unbarring of a door, and the creature's ears perked up and twitched. Despite the dismal environment and gradual but sure loss of any and all hope, every now and then, the creature would catch a glimpse of light to the far side, apparently granted entry momentarily by the opening of a door. It was then that the creature could see the torn jeans clinging to its legs and the shirt dirtied and hanging off its chest and arms. Light would reflect off the bars he'd discovered long ago and a reverse shadow would fall silently over the hallway beyond these.

Just as the light appeared, it was gone. These tiny respites did little but bring the creature further into confusion and despair. As the light, the symbol of hope and warmth and love, vanished, its pointed ears folded back in self-pity. In its heart-of-hearts, it despised its own vulnerability and yet desperately scoured its memories for someone that might come save it from this horrid place.

But as silence stretched out in the darkness left by the closing of the door, the creature let tears slid down its cheeks once more and slowly, it drifted into a world of dreams and memories.

------

There was a familiar motion that the creature recognized. It lay paralyzed at the floor of a car's back seats as the automobile bumped over a road, its eyes cracked open barely as hissing voices came back to him.

One voice danced bitter and accusing through the air. "Why can't we just get rid of it?! I can't help thinking that it knows what happened. If that's the case, it'll just track us down and-"

But the other voice was sly. "No! That would be impossible. It never saw us once, not even when they would go in to tranquilize it to get it out of the cell. If we just dump it off where we found it, then we'll be safe."

"How y'figure?" the first voice replied, now genuinely interested, desperate to save its own skin.

"This way, if the boss gets ratted out somehow, we can't get charged for murder. All we did was pick it up then drop it off from where we got it. No harm, no foul."

The creature struggled to remain somewhat conscious, wanting to know more, anything, that might help, but the drugs did their job, sending the creature floating weightless into the black void of unconsciousness.

------

"Dammit, Newbie, what's wrong with you?" Perry growled out as he left his apartment building. A full moon dominated a starless sky, those tiny pinpricks in the blanket of night blotted out by the light pollution of a well-populated city.

Three weeks. How could he be missing for over three weeks?

Perry tugged his jacket tighter over his broad shoulders and stamped out towards the road. So cold out here, he thought absently, what if he's- But Perry cut off his own thoughts before they could get to that point. Carla, Barbie and Gandhi had long ago hit that mark and were all left sad and desperately, but doubtfully, hoping for his safe return.

Had the doctor let himself go on, he'd have realized how worried he was. After the first 48 hours of a crime like this, the chances of finding the missing person plummeted. And after three weeks, well ... There was little hope now.

Perry looked up at his car sitting at the edge of the sidewalk beside a streetlamp, its artificial orange glow falling over rubbish and weeds growing in the cement's cracks. A cruel wind whipped up an old newspaper and sent it scuttling end over end down the road.

His eyes, following this litter, trailed across the street to where there was no streetlamp. In the shadows of the building and the curb, Perry's eyes grew wide at the sight of a figure curled up and shivering visibly at this distance.

"It can't be," Perry gasped as he started at a trot to reach this familiar form. Within half a heartbeat, he was sprinting through the cold till he came to a skidding stop before the fallen creature.

"Newbie."

Without hesitation, Perry gathered up JD in his arms, disturbed by how much lighter his body was, even more disturbed by these ... new appendages. Heaving up once to settle the motionless form in his arms bridal-style, Perry glanced around and shot across the street, back to the apartment building, up the flights of stairs, down the hallway and to the door. Without even fumbling for the keys, he grabbed for the knob and staggered in, kicking it shut behind him. Perry went on doggedly a few more paces before laying the kid out on the couch. Immediately, he whipped around and locked the door.

He couldn't believe it. Perry stood over the back of the couch as JD curled up in his ragged clothes. No, he could believe he'd just miraculously discovered JD laying in the gutters. He could even get passed the fact that his clothes were in near shreds from being worn through so much.

It was the ears that got him.

Atop JD's head of brunette hair were two pointed, gray-furred ears like that of a dog or wolf. Where normal ears might've been was covered with shaggy, unkempt hair. On top of all that, laying limply off the couch's edge at JD's rear, was a tail. Silvery-gray, shaggy-furred, without a doubt wolf, tail- attached to his body, even giving the occasional twitch.

Unable to be sure for himself, Perry reached out and gave the right ear an experimental tug. A look of pain immediately spread over JD's pale face in his slumber. That proved it was very much real.

"This can't be true. It's-it's just impossible!" Perry said incredulously to himself. Never in his life could he have thought this up. But, after a moment, Perry gave himself a shake and let the doctor side of his being settle in. He came back to JD's side and started various vital signs, starting at body temperature, then breathing and heart rate. After a few moments, it was obvious to Perry that, besides being near frozen, there was nothing wrong with his health.

He retrieved a blanket and laid it over JD's still form as he fitfully slept on. Perry was tempted to spread the news to Newbie's pals but he couldn't just yet. If word got to the police that a missing person was located, they'd come and investigate and whatnot, thereby inadvertently discovering JD's new features. Perry knew he couldn't let that happen. He had to know himself what JD's story was and he knew that JD would become big news, then subject to scientific research. He himself being a skilled doctor was baffled as to how JD's human body could readily accept canine flesh. The different dna and blood would have caused the ears and tail to die but apparently, they were very much alive.

Perry reached out and just barely brushed JD's face with his finger tips, just to reassure himself that he was actually here. He would never admit ever to anyone that in the time JD was missing, that he'd been sad. Albeit it was annoying to come to work every morning and hear this gal gibbering away in his ear, Perry knew that he had potential and, as he promised himself that he would never tell a living soul, it wasn't a far shout from absolutely heartbreaking that such a comforting constant like JD could just be snatched away.

Swallowing a lump of emotion in the back of his throat, Perry forgot whatever it was he had been heading to the store for and went back to bed. Then, with a tired groan as he lay to sleep, he thought agitatedly, We'll figure this out in the morning.

so, there ya have it. there are more chapters coming soon.