Hello world! This is my first Scrubs fic, I just adore JDox. Story may later feature deliciously unrealistic amnesia. Just a warning. Constructive criticism is more than welcome.
FYI, in this 'verse, Jordan and Perry got divorced in 4.03 and JD and Cox got together soon afterwards.
I should've known something was wrong when the janitor came in carrying Newbie over his shoulder, but I hardly noticed. I mean, it's not exactly rare for him to get a little beat up because of something the janitor did. If I'd looked a little closer, noticed JD wasn't kicking or screaming or, well, doing anything but bleeding, if I hadn't gone right back to my paperwork after directing the janitor to an empty room on the other side of the hallway, if I'd gauged the speed at which the man was going compared to his usual saunter, if I'd seen right away that the guy's face looked concerned and guilty instead of smug… maybe I could've done something. Maybe.
The janitor came out of the room, his hands at his sides, and stopped in front of me. He watched Carla and a few others rush across the hall and then stared at me confusedly.
"Don't you have a floor to clean?" I growled as I closed the folder I was working in. My day so far had already been a sorry excuse for six hours on Earth, and now I'd have to nurse Newbie back to health. In past experience, this involved copious amounts of chicken noodle soup and Gilmore Girls. To make matters worse, I was beginning to hear serious, somewhat frantic voices and beeping from what sounded like a few rooms down. I straightened my stethoscope and turned around to see who was in need of my expertise, only to find a bunch of interns gathered behind me, looking terrified. Newbie's interns. I glanced behind me. The janitor was gone.
"What?" I snapped at the herd. One of them pushed Keith out of the crowd and he stumbled a few feet forward.
"A-aren't you going to see Dr. Dorian? S-sir?" he stuttered. My eyes traveled slowly to the source of the increasing noise, and the pieces clicked into place.
Making a strongly-worded mental note to take care of the janitor when Newbie was better (because of course he'll get better he's going to be fine just fine), I ran through the door only to freeze moments later. I saw everything in the room separately, one at a time, somehow making sense of the chaos in the room.
One. Blood all over him. His head, his arms, everywhere.
Two. Laverne pushing a panicked Carla out of the way because she was crying too much to do anything.
Three. A few interns I didn't recognize, with that familiar "I'm nervous as hell but I don't have time for that" face.
Four. A strangely level-headed Barbie restarting JD's heart.
And for the first time since my internship, I couldn't move.
I watched weakly as the heart monitor readings went back up to normal - well, maybe not normal, but alive. Barbie took a deep breath and swallowed, seeing me in the room for the first time.
"Dr. Cox," she breathed. "You're here. He's-he's okay. I have to go."
She brushed past me, shrugging Keith off when he met her at the door. Laverne scribbled something on a chart and handed it to me. I took it robotically, trying like hell to take my eyes off Carla sniffling and bandaging his head. She stared up at me.
"Turk's in surgery. He'll be here soon." I tore my gaze from JD and nodded slowly at Carla. "It's, uh, still sketchy," she whispered, obviously biting back a sob. Any other time I would have moved to at least try to comfort her, but my brain was on autopilot; I sunk into the chair beside Newbie's bed. Carla glanced worriedly at Laverne, and Laverne looked as worried as I think it was possible for her to look. I took a deep breath and buried my head into the mattress when they left.
"Newbie," I muttered. "There's a lot of theory out there, that people can hear things in their subconscious when they're knocked out. You know very well I think it's bullshit, but I guess I'll give it a shot. If you wake up, I swear to God I'll buy you a Gilmore Girls box set. The entire goddamn series. I'll get you a dog, a real dog, because Gandhi took Rowdy back and for some reason you were extre-he-hemely attatched to it. Damn it, I'll let you call me your boyfriend in public. Just don't you dare die on me, kid."
