elmo-doodle: hey look-- I haven't left you hanging for too long this time! =] I think I'm getting a little better at updating now, so it shouldn't be long until chapter five is up! There's not much to say about this chapter... it's probably a little vague but the plot will move forwards in the next chapter! I have written chapter fourteen-- it's got suspense and what I think is one of my best cliffhangers! I can't wait for you guys to read it!

DISCLAIMER: well duh, of course I don't own it-- that's why it's called FANFICTION.

Warnings: Swearing, commecing from the second word! =]


Chapter Four

Oh shit, this does not bode well for me.

JD sighed as he followed Perry's car from the rooftops. Of course he knew where the older man lived but he felt like humouring himself. He had had to catch himself back in the alleyway before he said the wrong things. He was going to say that he knew that he needed stitches since he was a doctor. He managed to stop himself before that last part came out.

JD winced as the pain in his arm become even more prominent. He had intended to contact Turk who was working late and ask him to stitch him up. It would have been risky for him to go to the hospital, but he knew how he could get in without being seen. However, there was always the chance that Turk was busy and caught up in surgery. So really, Perry was his best chance since he couldn't stitch it himself.

JD watched as Perry parked his car outside of the apartment block. He scanned the windows of the apartments, and smiled when he spotted Perry's bedroom window-- there was a balcony on it. JD jumped off the last roof and nimbly landed on the balcony rails like a cat. Opening the lock was no problem for him, and within moments he was stepping in to the older doctor's bedroom.

Ignoring his happiness at being in said room, JD moved out to the sitting room where the front door was. He could hear Perry on the other side of it, trying to locate his keys. JD went over to the door and opened it from the inside.

He was greeted with a "GAH!" from Perry, as the door suddenly swung open to reveal the Knight.

"How did you know which apartment was mine?" Perry asked, scowling and moving past JD and in to his home.

JD shrugged. "It was the only one without lights on." He closed the door and turned around to watch Perry.

"Sit on the couch," Perry said, gesturing to the seat. "I need to go get the first aid kit."

"Of course, thank you," JD said politely. Gonna have to keep on my toes if I don't want him to realise it's me. He sighed and sat back, waiting for Perry to return.

**

Jordan would be blind with jealousy if she knew who was in my apartment right now, Perry thought to himself with an amused chuckle. He opened the bathroom cabinet and began rummaging around for the well-stocked First Aid Kit that he kept in there. I almost can't believe who is in my apartment now. He located the medical supplies and shut the cabinet door then made his way in to the lounge, where the Masked Knight was sitting on the couch, inspecting the wound on his left arm.

"I can't comprehend how I managed to get injured," the Knight said, sighing and looking at the cut with confusion. "It rarely happens, but that guy got me good."

"I'll say," Perry commented, sitting on the couch and taking the Knight's arm with his hands. "Any deeper and he would have hit a main artery." The Knight gave him a look which stated that he knew that fact, and wasn't too happy with it. "Okay, I'll just clean this for you and stitch it up."

Perry opened the kit and began taking out the supplies. He picked up the antiseptic wipes and ripped a few packets open. "This'll sting," he said before placing the wipe over the wound, and he was surprised when the Knight didn't even flinch. He cleaned the wound in silence, very aware of the Knight's eyes watching his every move. Perry discarded the soiled wipes on the table and began preparing the surgical needle. "So, what were you preventing tonight?"

The Knight continued to watch him. "Attempted gang-rape on a woman," he answered. "Three men. I thought I had knocked the first one unconscious, but he got up and took a swipe at me with a knife. I sensed him move just before he lunged and I moved out of the way but he still got me. Obviously."

"Obviously," Perry agreed. "You sure do put your life in danger a lot."

The Knight grinned. "It's how I live," he replied. "I have these talents. Why should I keep them to myself when I can help others with them?"

Perry raised an eyebrow as he began to stitch the wound up. "What talents?"

The Knight smirked and looked over a glass of water sitting on the far side of the coffee table. Perry paused in sealing the wound and watched as the Knight lifted up his right arm and held his hand out towards the glass, his fingers curling slightly.

Suddenly, the water shot upwards out of the glass and towards the Knight's palm. The water turned in to sphere and levitated just above his gloved hand, defying the laws of gravity as the Knight used his mind to change it's shape in to a cube, a pyramid, Perry's face...

"Shit," Perry murmured, staring at the liquid reflection of his face. "I'll admit that's one heck of a talent."

The Knight grinned and soon the water was making its way back in to the glass. "Elemental control," he said as Perry continued to stitch up his arm. "Wind is the easiest to control because it's always there. Water is pretty easy too, but I need to draw it from sources around me. I've never had a need to control the earth, except for maybe extracting water from it, and fire is the hardest to control. It's too destructive and unpredictable. It's extremely hard to draw water when there's fire, and it won't hold it off for long."

"You use these talents much?" Perry asked as he finished the stitches.

The Knight shrugged slightly. "Just when I need to." He watched as Perry began to clear up the mess of wipes and empty packets on the table. "I can't thank you enough, sir," he said gratefully. "If there's anything I can do to repay you...?"

"You don't need to do anything," Perry replied gruffly. "Just..." He straightened up to look at the Knight. "Just keep doing what you do. Saving people's lives. Protecting the city. People are grateful for it."

The Knight nodded. "I will," he said. He stood up and flexed his arm, wincing a little. "That's going to be stiff for a while," he grumbled. "Oh well, all in the name of justice. Thank you again, sir." Perry waved his thanks off. "Okay then. I shall leave through the bedroom window."

Perry frowned. "Why on earth would you do that?"

The Knight grinned. "It's more fun that way," he said, before swinging his cape round and running out of the room. Perry blinked at how fast the other man moved before following him in to the bedroom, where the Knight had already exited and window left often open. He went to it and arrived just in time to see the Knight wave at him once before jumping off the balcony rails with the agility of a cat. Perry gaped as he watched the Knight practically swoop through the sky, his cape billowing out behind him. As the Knight neared the ground he caught the top of a lamppost with his hands and swung under it once before landing nimbly on the top of the bar. With another leap he was on top of a building and disappearing in to the night.

Perry stood dazed for a moment before he shook his head and closed the window. Suicidal hero, he thought.

**

JD slid open his bedroom window and climbed inside on to the bed, shutting it behind him. Eagle barked in joy at having his master back home and tried to jump up on the mattress. JD chuckled and reached down to lift Eagle up. He set the puppy on the bed as he began to take of his cape, mask and gloves.

"That was a weird night," JD told the dog, who looked up at him with intelligent eyes. "Stabbed by a guy, found in an alleyway by Doctor Cox, went to his house and got patched up by him." Eagle whined and nudged the hand of his injured arm. JD smiled and petted his head affectionately. "It's okay, I'm fine now." His eyes caught sight of the clock on his bedside table and he grimaced. "I didn't realise it had gotten so late-- I've got a shift in six hours." He got off the bed and stretched. "I'm going to get a shower now. You watch the house, pup."

Eagle barked in affirmative.

**

"You alright, Bambi?" Carla asked JD, looking worriedly at him. "You look tired."

JD shrugged, ignoring the pain in his left arm. "I didn't sleep much last night," he said. He frowned at the chart he was holding. "Whoa, this is a new patient."

Carla nodded. "Doctor Kelso assigned her to you and Doctor Cox last night. She the daughter of a board member and he wants you to have your full attention on her."

JD sighed. "Trying to get more money out of the board?"

"Of course."

"Right," JD shook his head in exasperation. "I should go introduce myself to her. See ya later."

Carla waved him off and JD headed over towards the private patients rooms where the girl was located. According to his chart she was only four years old and had been admitted due to fatigue, headaches and loss of appetite. Ready to tackle this case head-on, JD entered the little girl's room to see her sitting up on the bed and playing with a teddy bear.

"Knock knock," JD said, announcing his arrival. The girl looked up at him with big brown eyes and smiled brightly.

"Hello!" she greeted. "Are you my doctor?"

"Yep," JD said, moving further in to the room. "I'm Doctor Dorian, but you can call me JD. What's your name?"

"I'm Kayla," she said, then she held up her teddy. "This is Branwell. He wants to say hello too!" She held out the teddy's paw, and JD shook it with his hand, sitting on the edge of the bed as he did so.

"It's nice to meet you, Branwell," he said, and Kayla giggled, her brown hair swaying slightly. "So, Kayla, do you know why you're in here?"

Kayla nodded. "Mamma said I'm sick," she said, tilting her head to the side. "Will you make me better?"

JD smiled gently. "I'm going to do all that I can," he told her, wanting nothing more than to assure this sweet little girl that she was going to be fine, but he couldn't-- not when he didn't know that for sure himself. Ignoring, the pang of unease he felt in his heart, he smiled brightly at her. "Have you met Doctor Cox yet? He's the other doctor who is going to be looking after you."

Kayla nodded. "He was in here earlier," she said, and then she held up her teddy in front of her again. "He shook Branwell's hand, too!"

JD let a sly smile grace his face for a moment. "He did, yeah?" Who would have thought? "Well, I'm sure he'll be back in again to see you later. First though, I'm gonna need to take some blood samples from you so that we can do some tests and see what's making you sick. Is that okay?"

Kayla looked a little nervous and clutched her teddy closer to her chest but nodded anyway. "Okay."

"I'll be back in a minute," JD said, giving her one last encouraging smile before he stood up and left her room. He made his way back to the nurses' station and called on Carla there.

"Can you come help me get some blood samples from Kayla? I think she'll relax more if you're there," JD asked her.

Carla beamed in response. "Sure thing, Bambi. I'll get the supplies now."

**

Eighteen-year-old JD sat on the floor of the small room that he and his new friend Christopher Turk shared at Medical College. They had been living there for two months now, and JD considered himself very lucky to even be there. Getting the grades for Medical school hadn't been a problem since he had always been studious and strived hard to attain his goals. No, it had been convincing his mother to let him leave home that had been the hardest. She was convinced that he was going to lose control over his "special powers" and cause destruction. Unintentionally of course, she had said.

What she didn't know was that for the past ten years JD had been teaching, training himself to control his gifts. His mother had never been able to find the help that was needed for him, so she had instead begged him not to use them, to keep them locked away inside of him for his own safety.

As JD had gotten older he become more curious about his talents and would carefully practise with them whenever his mom wasn't at home. It took some time, but eventually he was able to control water and wind to bend to his every command. Practising to control the earth had proven harder, not because he wasn't trying but because he needed to be outside and be in contact with the earth for it to work. Doing that in the front garden wouldn't not have been a good idea-- they had very nosy neighbours.

He hadn't even bothered trying to control fire while he was at home. His mother would have known for sure then that he hadn't been neglecting if she came home and found his bedroom burnt to a crisp. No, he waited until he had left home for college before he tried to control it.

The roommate that he had been paired up with was pretty cool, in JD's opinion. Training to be a surgeon and one heck of a basketball player, Turk was pretty much the opposite of the geeky John Dorian. But, they got on with each other like a house on fire. Even though it had only been two months since they met, JD thought of Turk as a great friend and he felt that he knew so much about him. And Turk probably knew everything about JD too.

Well, almost everything.

Every Monday and Thursday night when Turk went out to play basketball, JD would sit on the floor of their shared bedroom and do his best to control the most dangerous of the elements. He kept a basin of water beside him in case he needed to draw from it if an accident happened. It wouldn't do to have Turk return and find the carpet singed beyond recognition.

JD sat with his eyes closed, his concentration at its highest as he focused on drawing the fire towards him, but at the same time making sure not to summon too much. He held his hands up, palms facing the ceiling as the collective flaming energy gathered in the space between his hands and fused together to make a fiery ball. It wasn't that big since JD hadn't wanted to summon too much, but he had been getting better and controlling larger amounts of fire the more he practised. It was going to take some time, since he could on do that twice a week.

It was on a Thursday night when Turk walked in on JD. Basketball had ended early due to one the team members getting injured so JD hadn't been expecting him at that time. He had been so wrapped up in shaping the ball of fire in his hands that he hadn't even sense Turk approaching the flat and entering the bedroom. It still wasn't until Turk's exclamation of "What the hell?!" that JD noticed he had company. He involuntarily jumped in shock, which involuntarily sent the ball of fire shooting towards the curtains as his concentration broke.

"Dammit!" he swore, as Turk started to shout, "Fire! The curtain's are on fire! Dude!"

JD was quick to react: he drew the water from the basin beside him and sent it towards the curtain, drenching them. The fire died out with a disappointed hiss, and vanished to reveal sodden and scorched curtains. JD and Turk stared at the curtains in silence until Turk turned his head towards JD.

"Dude... what on earth was that?!"

JD winced slightly. There was no way he was going to be able to make up a cover story for this... He sighed and gestured for Turk to sit down. This was going to be a long story...

**

"Alright Kayla, this is Nurse Carla-- she's going to help me with taking some blood, okay?"

Kayla nodded, still showing signs of nervousness but she smiled at Carla. "Hello," she greeted.

"Hello, sweetheart," Carla replied, smiling kindly. "Don't you worry about a thing, okay? You're barely going to feel it."

"Okay, needle please, Carla?" JD asked, after he had put the latex gloves on. He took the needle when Carla handed it to him and then added in a low voice so Kayla couldn't hear: "Could you sit on the other side and talk to her? Just so she doesn't look round?" Carla nodded and went over to the bed, effectively making Kayla turn away from the needle.

"So Kayla, how old are you?" Carla asked while JD tried to find a suitable vein on the girl's arm.

"I'm four," Kayla said. She was doing a good job so far off ignoring what was happened to her arm.

"Whoa, that's a big number," Carla said gently. "Do you go to school?"

"Mommy took me to playgroup every day before I got sick."

JD frowned in concentration as he found the vein and tried to get the tip of the needle to pierce the child's skin as gently as possible. Kayla tensed up a little as the needle broke the surface but she relaxed as Carla kept talking to her. JD drew the blood as quickly as he could and then removed the needle to deposit the blood in one of the tubes before going back to take one more sample. It only took another minute before he was finished. "There we go, Kayla. All done!"

Kayla looked round at JD in surprise and then her eyes moved down to the smiley-face plaster on her arm. "That was it?" she asked, shocked.

"Yep," JD grinned. "You're a very brave girl. I think that deserves some ice cream. What do you think Nurse Carla?"

"Definately," Carla agreed. Kayla smiled proudly as JD bagged the blood samples and filled out the paperwork that radiology needed. "I'll go get that arranged now."

JD nodded. "Alright, Kayla, I'll be back in to see you later, okay? I've got to go see some other patients buy I'll drop in on you again."

"Yes, Doctor!" Kayla said, smiling brightly and hugging her teddy closely. Her brown eyes shone with happiness despite the fact that she was in hospital because she was very sick. JD was amazed at her strength as he waved goodbye to her. He took the blood samples down to radiology and after being told to come back for them in five hours he started to make his way down to the cafeteria. However, he changed direction after he sensed the Janitor hiding around the corner at the bottom of the corridor. Oh well, he could get some coffee later. Might as well get his other duties done sooner than later.

**

JD spent the rest of his shift alternating between talking to his patients, hanging out at the nurses' station and checking to make sure the stitches in his arm were still intact. His arm didn't hurt anymore which was good, since he would need full usage of it if he wanted to do both of his jobs properly.

JD smiled as he thought about Perry stitching him up the night before without even knowing that it was him. Oh, how he would love to tell Perry exactly who was in his apartment last night, if just to see the look on his face. He was still smiling as he went to collect Kayla's blood test results from radiology as his shift was nearing its end. Hopefully these results would give him the answers he needed to start treating her.

The manila envelope was sitting in the little plastic pocket beside the door of the radiology lab. JD picked it up and flipped it open, scanning down the results. The smile slipped off his face as the results filled him with dread and sadness. He closed his eyes.

Damn.


elmo-doodle: Okay? =] I probably ended it a little too suddenly! And sorry about the randomly placed flashback, heh ^_^; Actually, all the flashbacks that I've got in the chapters weren't in the planning-- I just sort of decided that they should be put in once I was finished writing the chapters. Oh, and Kayla's teddy bear is named after my teddy, Branwell! Who I have taken with me to university =] Review please! I don't have any Bailey's or cider or cookies to offer this time... erm, I have some salmon? Soup? Coke cola? Waffles!! Bread! One yoghurt... hm, I really need to do some shopping, lol.