JD's POV
As Doctor Cox walked towards me, I knew I wasn't going to like the news. His face was sullen, there was no humour and everyone else I passed held the same expression. "Doctor Dorian, there's an urgent case just come in on ICU." He paused, sighing heavily; he showed no signs of a wind up. "It's the Janitor." Dr Cox calling me by my proper name had to mean it was serious, not just the result of the Janitor slipping because of his own sloppy work. When I arrived at the swing doors, everyone else was there, I was the last one to know; Turk stood with his arms around Carla, Elliot stood by Ted and Todd, Todd's gaze fixed firmly on the floor, Doug lingered in the background, Jordan moved towards Dr Cox and Kelso leant against the wall, sighing repeatedly. No one said anything; they all just looked up, silently acknowledging my arrival and then returning to watching, waiting for him to show any signs of life.
After a short while, it was just me and Dr Cox left standing at the door. Inside, he looked so sweet, innocent and peaceful with only his head peeking over the covers. "What happened to him?" My voice was strangely hoarse, my throat felt like sandpaper.
"He was mugged on the way home, bastards knifed him. They caught his liver and snagged a kidney." Cox's voice was barely louder than a whisper.
"Who'd mug Lurch?" Cox stifled a coy laugh.
"You know, I was thinking the same thing."
"I want to sit with him. Cover my patient for me." Mr Elwood was only in the next bed, if worst came to worst, but I hoped for once Cox would listen to me.
"Why, why do you want to sit with Lurch? He's in a coma, Newbie. You know what that means…" Yes I knew it meant one of two things, but I couldn't leave him there all alone and vulnerable.
"It's just something I have to do, Perry." Once inside the tiny room, it just hit me. It overwhelmed me, the very real chance of him dying lingered in the back of my mind and my heart. "Hey kid, you know if he has any family we can contact?" He'd told a variety of different tales over the years about his family, only he would know fact from fiction. "I really don't know, Per. He's such an enigma…" As the words hung in the air, Cox left me to it.
"Hey man, this is…This is really weird. I mean, I never thought I'd be here at your bedside, and if I was, I thought we'd both be awake, if you catch my drift… Yeah, sick I know but I can't help it. I remember my first day in this hospital, you were the first person I met and you put the fear of God into me. I don't know if it was your height or just your personality…Or the threats that haven't really stopped to this day. There were moments though, fleeting ones, but moments no less where I thought we were gonna be ok, that we could have a normal relationship, friendship. But as we're sat here, I realise it now. It's not what I want. I don't want to have a friendship with you like I have with the others, I like the fact it's different. Just part of me wants more… But hey man, forgetting the others for a moment, I really need you, you know? I need you here with me and though it scares the hell outta me, I think I like you, too much."
He didn't know that the Janitor heard every word he'd said…
***
Dr Cox's POV
Days passed, yet Bambi sat in that damn room. Everyone ended up fussing around him instead of the real patient. He quit eating and sleeping, just in case by some small miracle his vacating of the room would force Lurch to wake up. On the 5th day of being completely out of it, Bambi was a wreck. He hadn't been home or slept more than 20 minutes at a time. "Newbie, take a break."
"No, I can't leave him." He slurred, rubbing his eyes.
"It wasn't a request. You've been sat in here for damn near 120 hours straight. You'd be more use to him getting some shut eye."
"Perry, you're not listening to me. I can't and I won't leave his side until he's awake. Sure, he won't thank me when he finds out it's me that's been sat at his bedside and not Elliot but I don't care. I just can't… Oh and Jordan was looking for you…"
"Oh hell, she'll only want to inflict more pain and misery… Fine, suit yourself Newbie." There was only one person would could talk any sense into him, well maybe two; one was enjoying a long weekend away with the misses and the other was in a coma.
October 12th, 10:36pm, it's a time I'll never forget. I'd managed to avoid my ex wife for the best part of 5 hours, which was a record in itself. At that precise moment, she'd cornered me, so the distraction was more than welcome. Bambi shot out of his room, the swing doors barely held on their hinges. He skidded towards us, stumbling over his own feet he was in such a hurry. "Dr Cox, come quickly, movement…" He told me between huge intakes of air. I followed him to his room and sure enough, there had been a ripple on the machines. "It could be anything that's caused that, Newbie."
"Oh yeah, and anything could have made his fingers twitch, I guess?"
"Well you hadn't told me that part…" I checked all the equipment, it was all in order. "It could be involuntary muscle spasms…"
"It could be, but look, his eyelids are twitching and his fingers!" He was a doctor; he should have known it could be something as trivial as his muscles relaxing as the coma set deeper in. But then, with my own eyes, I saw his hand curl into a ball and relax again, all the while his eyelids fluttered erratically. There was a chance that he was going to live after all…
***
JD's POV
It's always a tense moment when a coma patient opens their eyes for the first time and takes that all important first breath without the tubes and wires. As the Janitor's stunning blue eyes jolted open, his initial instinct was to fill his lungs with as much air as they could manage. Due to the tubes that had been placed in his mouth and oesophagus, he didn't manage to inhale any air, he simply choked. As he did, his hands flailed around wildly, grabbing the tubes and yanking them free. "Hey, hey, hey, calm down now yeah? It's me, JD. I need you to calm down though; you're only getting yourself all worked up." As his eyes focused on mine, they seemed to hold the truth; passion and love lingered, just waiting to be allocated to that special someone.
"You're in hospital, Lurch. You were attacked…" On hearing Cox's words, he flailed more violently. "Cox, you're not helping. Look, Janitor. I'll take the tube out of your throat if you promise to calm down for me. I need to know you're not going to try anything…" With one hand resting on top of his, I removed him from the ventilator. His bright blue orbs shone as he retched, trying to adjust to breathing. "Don't try and talk, your throat will be red raw. Just listen to me, nod if you agree, yeah?" Slowly, he nodded and looked from Cox to me and back again. "Ok, are you in any pain?" He pointed to his side, presumably the incisions made by the surgeons. "Ok, we'll give you some morphine for the pain in a minute. Does anywhere else hurt?" He shook his head from side to side before he noticed the hand on top of his.
His eyes suddenly told a different story. He looked like he wanted to vomit, screwing his eyes shut, he clawed at my hand. "Perry, get the man his morphine…" Silently, Cox left the room and once more, his expression changed. His eyes no longer held resent for my fingers gently brushing his, they no longer held the flare that had been there only moments before; they just screamed pain and anguish. His gaze flickered around the room, before settling on the drip that stood in the corner of the room. "Oh that's just to be on the safe side. Just to make sure your kidneys are still functioning correctly. Same with the heart monitor. We should be able to unhook them after we've ran a couple of tests." Cox walked back in, administered the morphine and beckoned me outside. "Newbie, he's one lucky guy. I've had knife victims in comas for weeks and they've had to have the plug pulled on them…"
"I wouldn't have let you." With that, I returned to his bedside.
***
