J.D. was bored out of his mind. He sighs before trying again to balance a pencil in between his upper lip and his nose. A loud whistle cuts through the air and J.D. promptly drops the pencil.
"Newbie, what in the hell are you doing?" Dr. Percival "Perry" Cox glared at the doctor before him. "The last time I checked you were getting paid to save people's lives. Yet here you are sitting here trying to balance a pencil."
J.D. shrugs. "All my patients are in stable condition and I cannot find Elliot or Turk. So I gotta keep myself entertained somehow." Perry's face becomes almost candy apple red and the vein in his neck begins to show. J.D. briefly fears that his mentor might in fact kill him where he stands.
But instead of doing that Perry turns on his heels and starts to walk away. But he stops, with a quick jerk of his hand and a sharp whistle he orders J.D. to follow him. J.D. begins to power-walk to keep up with his mentor's strides. They arrive at a particular room just outside of the ICU.
"Make yourself useful Paula and make the kid in the room talk." Perry had all the confidence in the world that out of all the so called "doctors" in the hospital J.D. would get this boy to talk. Perry, himself, had tried for thirty minutes to get him to talk to no avail.
J.D. shuffles into the room. A boy about eight is sitting on the end of a gurney with his legs dangling over the side. There is dirt caked on his cream colored skin. He has sandy colored hair and pale blue eyes. He looks at J.D. with suspicion.
"Hey there Buddy." J.D. greets him with a warm smile. "My name is Dr. Dorian. What's yours?" the boy just blinks at him. "What's the matter cat got your tongue?" The boy frowns. "You have to have a name. How about you just tell me what it is."
"Perry." The boy admits. "Percival John Winchester." The only reason the child had told J.D. his name was because he had a feeling that he would annoy him until he did and he just didn't feel like dealing with a overly annoying doctor who used way too much hair gel.
"Really your name is Perry?" J.D. seemed delighted by that fact. "You know my mentor/father-figure is named Perry also."
"Fascinating." The boy rolled his eyes.
"So what is your deal? You obviously haven't had a bath in a while." J.D. cannot help but grimace a little.
"What do you care?" Perry spits out at him. "You don't know me."
"You are right I do not but if you let me maybe I can get to know you." There was something about the doctor with the overly gelled hair that made the boy want to trust him. "Where's your parents Perry?"
"Never met my dad and my mom died about a month ago. I have been on my own ever since." Young Perry admits. He sniffles and swipes at his eyes.
"How old are you?"
"I just turned nine on April 23rd." He informed the doctor. Then his eyes because distrustful again as he notices that J.D. is writing everything down.
He snatches the clipboard that J.D. had been writing on and attempts to read the chicken scratch that was scribbled all over that particular piece of paper. He gives up and lets out a growl.
"Perry John ... you know I really like that name. But I cannot exactly put my finger on why." J.D. begins thumping his hand against the counter. He is deep in thought.
"Hello ... earth to Dr. Dork ..." Perry waves his hand in front of J.D.'s face. With perplexed blue eyes he backs away from the dark-haired doctor and leaves the room. He walks down the hall, every few seconds he turns around to look to see if the weird doctor was following him.
He turned his attention behind him for just one second when he collided with something hard. The force of the collision sends the boy to the floor. He stares up at the same intimidating doctor who tried to get him to talk earlier.
"Sorry sir." He replied sheepishly as he stands up and brushes his pants off.
"So you can speak." The chief of medicine mocks the young boy. Young Perry holds his gaze, he is not one to back down. He flexes his fingers a bit and just continues to stare at the gruff doctor before him.
"There you are Perry." J.D. jogs up to both Perrys. Doctor Cox's face becomes red again. Newbie knew better than to call him Perry during work hours.
"Newbie!" Dr. Cox exclaims. "What are the rules about addressing me at work?" Dr. Cox folds his arms tightly over his chest in annoyance.
"Huh?" J.D. stares blankly at his mentor for a moment before it dawns on him what he is getting in trouble for. "No, not you Perry. His name is Perry also. Percival John Winchester." J.D. informs his mentor.
"Perry huh?" Dr. Cox asks as he flexes his jaw. "Good name."
"I am out of here ... you two are weirdos." The boy turns on his heels and begins to walk away.
"Not so fast Sparky." Dr. Cox grabs a handful on the back of the boy's shirt and gently pulls him closer. "You are going to go with Belinda here back to your room and after I get done talking to social services I will be down to talk to you."
Then Dr. Cox lets out a shrill whistle. "Well Paula-Ann get moving. I'd hate for you to miss your stories because you are taking care of the boy." With that round of name calling done Dr. Cox walked away muttering to himself.
"Why do you let him call you girl's names?" Young Perry asked.
"It's kinda a term of endearment thing kiddo." Young Perry frowned. "Dr. Cox does not know how to show that he cares so he mocks me and calls me girl's names but I can see through the brash exterior and I know he cares in his own way." J.D. went on to explain.
"Whatever you say." Young Perry walked back into the room he was in before.
"How about I go get ya some clean clothes and something to eat?" J.D. suggested. Young Perry studied his face for a moment and decided that the over gelled doctor would not poison his food. "But I need you to promise that you will not go anywhere while I am gone."
"Get me a cheeseburger and I promise to be here when you get back." The boy gave J.D. a charming smile.
"You got a deal." J.D. smiled as well as he strolled out of the room. The boy stood by the doorway till the naive doctor was gone.
"Sucker." He grinned to himself as he gathered his stuff and prepared to make his getaway. But then something inside him made him freeze in place. "Dr. Dork" had been so nice to him and he knew that he was going to get into trouble with that scary Dr. Cox guy. He sighed and threw his knapsack back on the floor and took up residence on the gurney he had been sitting on once again.
J.D. returned a short time later with a pair of pajamas he had taken from the pediatrics ward and a tray full of food. He closed the door to give the boy a chance to change and when he walked back into the room he was mowing down on his food.
"Chew Little Perry ... chew."
The boy listened and slowed down. "Sorry it's been a while since I ate." The explained with a mouth full of french fries.
"So tell me about your mom." J.D. requested.
"Why?"
"Because sometimes when you lose someone it helps to talk about them to people." The boy raised a brow.
"You lose someone?"
"Yes, I lost my dad a few years ago." J.D. told him.
"Sorry." The boy honestly felt bad. "It sucks ya know. My mom was so young and she was all I had and now she is gone and here I am sleeping on park benches and stealing food from anywhere I can get it."
"How would you like to come stay with me P.J.?" J.D. asked.
"P.J.?"
"Just testing it out."
"You really are strange." The boy remarks.
"Yea, not the first time I heard that one but I do have the room at my place and lots of food."
"Anything has to be better than foster care." Young Perry shrugged.
"Yay!" the older man exclaimed which made the boy re-think his decision. "Come on you have to meet Elliot and Carla and most importantly of all you have to meet Chocolate Bear!"
'Chocolate Bear?" Yep, he was definitely gonna regret this.