AN: Omg, you guys, I am so very sorry for the delay. This stupid site has been telling me that there has been an error in submitting my document for a week. And I've been so angry with it that I haven't even started on Chapter 5 yet. Ugh. I promise that as long as this damn site stops being pissy, I'll update again within the next day or so. But let me get to the review replies real quick so you can get on with reading already. Sheesh!

Dizzy - Glad you're enjoying the story so far! Hope you like this next chapter!

Lady-of-the-gray - Yay! I'm so excited that you want to use my story idea! What an honor. And I know I already personally replied to your review, but just so everyone knows, you may absolutely use it. :) I can't wait to read what you have! Have you started it already?

snow887 - /is huggled and glomped/ Wow! So glad I could rock your socks! Shweet! And I'm so happy that you're enjoying the fic. I know I'm having fun writing it. :) Hope you like this chapter and the rest to come!

Babog - /points to noggin/ Yup, that's where my story ideas come from. Haha! And who isn't addicted to Scrubs? I talk about them like they're real people all the time! LoL! So glad you're liking the story so far, and I hope every chapter is better than the last!

Muttzrock - Thanks! Glad you're hooked! Hope you like this next chapter!

Samu - Oh, I just had to add something in there to tie Perry into the story. I mean, what's a JDA without Dr. Cox, yea? Haha! As far as the perks go . . . I'm kinda wondering about those myself. /sheepish grin/ Oh well, I'm sure I'll figure that out when I get to it, yea? LoL

xredneckchiickx - Thanks! I'm glad you like it so far!

Elise Davidson - /huggles JD and Perry close and sighs contently/ Hey, who doesn't want to give our Scrubs boys a big old hug, yea? Aww . . . Hmm, can't say I've ever heard of Bleach, but if it reminds you of this, I may have to look into it! By the way, I was absolutely thrilled to read the ending of your trilogy (not in a happy-it's-finally-over kind of way but a omg-that-was-so-good-I'm-going-to-read-it-again-and-again-till-I-have-it-memorized kind of way). LoL! Absolutely brilliant, Chica. Some /great/ work, and totally recommendable. NOTE: WHOEVER HAS NOT READ ELISE DAVIDSON'S SCRUBS TRILOGY MUST GO AND DO SO AFTER YOU READ CHAPTER 4! DO IT! PLEASE!

deranged black kitten of doom - I know! How weird was that? LoL! I can't believe it! Wasn't her name Jill or something? I'm pretty sure it was Jill . . . but don't take my word for it. And, yes, I am psychic! Go me! LoL :)

dirtyprettything - Glad you find it "interesting." Is that a good or bad thing? Haha!

Star Future - I'm so glad you did decide to read my fic! I can guarantee that there will some JDCox smut happening in the near future (heh heh). And I have an idea about how this story will work out, but I'm not writing anything in stone just yet . . . although there will be a part two. /inquisitive look/

psychotic KAT - Livejournal is absolutely amazing! And, yay, I did finally work out the kinks in this forsaken site. :) So glad you like the story so far!

Alright, that's all I have. If you reviewed and I didn't respond, I'm so sorry. It's not that I don't love you (I do! Really, I do!). It's just this dern site and it's dern updating . . . stuff. Well, no more chitchat. I'll let you read. Enjoy this much-awaited chapter, Kats and Kittens!

Chapter Four:

JD knew that there were one-hundred-and-seven tiles on Perry's kitchen floor. He knew Perry owned shot glasses from every state but Alaska. He knew that Perry had sixty-three DVDs, most of which were chick flicks, and almost two-hundred CDs, most of which were soundtracks of chick flicks.

JD knew these things because he had counted, and he had counted because he could not sleep – was not able to sleep. Perry had gone to bed hours ago, having been exhausted with the younger man and all his questions. And so JD had sat on the couch, staring blankly at the television screen and the one channel that Perry had turned it to – ESPN.

Damn sports fanatic, JD had thought with annoyance. After an hour of the mind-numbing actions of the players on the screen, it had become too much, and the counting had started, not stopping until a faint light began to stretch across the room from a window on the far wall.

JD stopped by the window, looking out at the street below. He had never really noticed the neighborhood around the apartment building, but it was rather . . . comforting – the kind of place you'd want to raise kids and start a family in. There was a coffee shop right across the street, which joined with the internet cafe right beside it. They had probably been separate businesses at one time but thought it more profitable to pool their efforts. In any case, they seemed to be doing well for themselves. Not many places had over a dozen customers this early in the morning.

The laughter of children echoed from the sidewalk, and the young man watched as they skated on roller blades into the street, carting hockey sticks and a small, orange ball. JD smiled at the thought of being young again, waiting impatiently for the sun to come up so he could go outside and play before being rushed off to the confines of school. Things had changed very little in the post-generation.

Something else across the street caught his eye, and he shuddered when he realized it was the black-cloaked figure that had been following him ever since the day of his funeral. It had followed him from the apartment to the cemetery, where he had spent the last few days before Perry had found him. Mostly, it had kept its distance, remaining outside the cemetery gates – although there were a few instances in which JD thought it might actually come for him. That is, until the little girl from a few rows down, Melanie, had told him that it couldn't cross the threshold . . . at least not while JD still had time on earth.

He hadn't been surprised when it followed him to Perry's apartment but wondered whether it was going to come in or not. Thankfully, it seemed to be afraid to come near him when the older man was around. He had seen it falter in its advances when Perry had been with him. Was it really afraid of his former mentor? How much longer did he have until it came for him no matter what? Would Perry be able to stop it? Would he want to?

He sighed, bringing a hand up and slowly running his fingers over the window. He could touch it, yes, but he couldn't feel it, and this caused him to frown and his shoulders to slump.

This is how Perry found JD as he tiredly leaned in the doorway of his bedroom. The kid looked like he had been told his pony was going to be sent to the glue factory. He looked . . . devastated. Perry didn't know why this bothered him so much, but for some reason his chest felt heavy with guilt. Sure, he had liked seeing Newbie's face fall after one of his rants or when he wanted to intentionally crush his spirit, but this didn't feel . . . right. Newbie didn't deserve this kind of hurt . . . Dear God, was he actually developing a . . . soft spot for the kid?

"You said I couldn't touch things," JD's quiet statement pulled the older man from his thoughts, and he crossed his arms.

"No, I said you can't move things. I never said you couldn't touch them," Perry corrected him.

"But I couldn't touch Elliot," JD pointed out, his hand dropping from the window. "My fingers went right through her."

"The dead can't interact with the living, Newbie. Pure and simple. Even you should know that."

A silence fell between them before the younger man said, "Yet." At Perry's confused look, he explained. "You said I wouldn't be able to move objects 'yet.' How do I do that?"

Perry sighed. "Melinda, I don't know if you remember or not, but you're sort of on a time limit, here. I don't think I'd waste it trying to-"

"It's my God damn time, Perry," JD snapped, wanting to pound the wall with his fists but knowing it would do nothing to curb his anger, "and I'll 'waste it' any fucking way I please." The older man stared at him blankly, clearly unfazed by the outburst. He had dealt with enough of them from both the living and the dead.

"Fine," he agreed to JD's surprise, "but you'll do exactly what I say, no backing out. We do this all the way or not at all." JD nodded vigorously. "And we don't start anything until I've had some breakfast."

0 o 0 o 0

"All right, Susan, let's get started," Perry rubbed his hands together, grabbing a glass from his liquor shelf and setting it on the counter that separated the kitchen from the den. JD stood within the kitchen, the older man standing opposite him and placing his palms flat on the cold marble. "Now, you have, no doubt, seen the movie Ghost -" Seen it? Unchained Melody was JD's theme song! "- so I'm going to take reference from that. None of that 'to-bend-the-spoon-you-must-realize-there-is-no-spoon' shit. Just concentrate on the glass. Clear your mind. I know how hard that's going to be, seeing as you can't stop thinking about those pink heels you saw when you went window shopping with the gals, but, Sweetie, you've got to stop fantasizing about how well they match your prom dress and center in on the important stuff."

JD almost glared at the man, but a sudden thought ran through his head before he could, and he smirked. "Did you just call me 'Sweetie'?"

Perry whistled, pointing to the glass sitting in front of them and replying, "You. Counter. Go."

JD leaned down, his chin resting on the back of his left hand while his right reached towards the glass, two fingers extended. For a pain-staking hour and a half – most of which Perry spent drinking and watching sports – the young man glared and poked at the glass in front of him, able to touch it but not apply the force needed to move it. This was nothing like Ghost. For one thing, Patrick Swayze had picked up the whole moving objects thing fairly quickly. This was taking forever. Secondly, Swayze's fingers had been able to go through the objects. JD wasn't sure how to do that yet – if he could at all. Finally, he sighed and looked to the older man in the den.

"This isn't working," he said with annoyance.

"Keep at it, Newbie. It's going to take time," Perry replied, knocking back the remains of his glass.

"You know, you really suck at this whole 'teaching me to be a ghost' thing."

"Hey, you said it yourself – this is how you want to waste your fucking time."

"But it isn't working," JD repeated with exasperation, straightening and running his fingers through his hair.

"Practice makes perfect," the other man sing-songed.

"This is pointless!" JD yelled, and, suddenly, the glass shot across the room, shattering against the far wall. Perry stood and looked at the broken remains before turning to the kid.

"Hey, that got some fairly decent distance," he said, but his smirk disappeared when he saw the look on JD's face. "What's wrong?"

"I . . . I didn't touch it," JD whispered, still staring at the wall, where the glass had impacted. "I didn't lay a finger on it!"

Perry strode towards him, seating himself roughly on a barstool in front of the counter and staring at him hard.

"Newbie, that's impossible."

"I'm telling you, I didn't touch it!" JD nearly shrieked, backing up against the stove as the older man stood again, making his way around the counter. Perry wished he could shake the other, resisting the impulse to reach out.

"And I'm telling you it's impossible because-"

A knock at the door silenced both of them, and they exchanged a look before Perry went to answer it.

"Hey, Per," Jordan smiled with a sick sweetness, and the man's shoulders slumped. "Am I interrupting something? Or are you yelling at your sports buddies through the TV again? I keep telling you, it doesn't matter how loud you are, they're just never going to hear you."

"Actually-" Perry started, but she interrupted him.

"Yea, don't care. I need to dump Jack here for a few hours while I get a facial. Bob the homeless guy isn't at his street corner this morning." She handed Jack over to Perry along with a diaper bag full of toys.

"It takes a few hours to get a facial?" Perry asked with a withering look, balancing Jack and the bag in his arms.

"It does when I get it from Fredrico." She gave a perky smile before turning and walking off down the hall. Perry sighed, looking to the smiling child in his arms with contempt.

"Your mother is the devil. You know that, right?" Jack nodded with a giggle and the older man gave him a kiss on the temple. "Good boy."

He set the bag down by the door after kicking it shut and made his way back to the kitchen, where JD still stood looking extremely stunned.

"DJ!" Jack squealed, reaching for the young man and pulling him from his trance.

"He can . . . You know what? Forget it. I don't want to know. It's probably some weird explanation about how kids are more sensitive to the 'spiritual world,' and, truthfully, I don't think I can handle that kind of bullshit right now." He leaned his elbows on the counter and put his face in his hands.

"Well, Jessica, as much as I enjoyed that little display of girl power, I can safely say that I, in fact, have absolutely no clue why my son can see you," Perry replied, giving Jack a wary look. The little boy merely giggled, clapping his hands before grabbing a rather large chunk of his father's hair and tugging fiercely. The man hissed, carefully attempting to extract his curls from the tiny fist.

"Eggs," Jack demanded, slapping Perry's arm a few times for emphasis. "Eggs!"

"What, Satan doesn't feed you?" Perry asked in exasperation. As if in answer, Jack's stomach growled, and they both looked at it, Jack exploding into laughter and patting his tummy.

"Eggs!" He giggled. Perry rolled his eyes, making his way to the refrigerator to make his son some breakfast.

0 o 0 o 0

"We never finished talking," JD said quietly, watching Jack grab a fist full of scrambled eggs and stuff them in his mouth.

"Salt," Jack demanded, pointing to the salt shaker in the center of the table.

"No," Perry replied firmly. "Newbie, can we save this till later? I'm kind of busy." The boy stood carefully on his chair and leaned over his plate towards the object he wanted, but the older man quickly thwarted his attempt, snagging him around the middle and sitting him back down.

"No," he said again more sternly, to which Jack gave a pouting look and tossed a handful of eggs into his father's face.

"Jack!" JD scolded. "Don't throw-" A wayward juice cup was hurled towards JD's head, and he barely had time to react as the cup sailed to the right of his head, landing on the floor behind him.

"Okay, Jack," the man said, shifting his son to one hip and grabbing the plate to take to the sink. "No more eggs. I'm fairly certain my apartment looks just fine without your refined decorating skills."

"Perry . . ."

"Not now, Newbie." Perry took the wet rag dangling over the sink faucet and ran it over Jack's hands and face.

"Yes, now, Perry," the young man said angrily. "You can't tell me something's impossible when I just saw myself do it!" The older man sighed, not turning from his son's intrigued gaze. "You were going to say something, right? You said, 'It's impossible because' . . . Why is it impossible?"

"JD-" Perry replied, his tone echoing his exhaustion, but the younger man would not have any more stalling tactics.

"Why?" He nearly screamed, and several cupboards, suddenly, slammed open, their contents flying out and onto the floor. Perry clutched Jack close, backing away from the mess with wide eyes and a slack jaw. His gaze slowly traveled over the kitchen floor, taking in the spilled cereal, the shattered cups and plates, the silverware strewn about the tiles. Pots and pans still rolled across the ground, having made dents in the cupboards paralleling their own, and several different spices lay scattered over the mess and hanging in the air – they had exploded from their containers.

Finally, Perry was able to look to JD standing across the kitchen. The young man sported a look of shock akin to his own, and before Perry could say anything, JD was heading towards the door.

"Newbie," he called, hurrying after him as best he could with Jack in his arms. He stepped over the disaster carefully, coughing and blinking rapidly as the spices in the air entered his nose, mouth, and eyes. "JD!" But the young man did not stop, hurrying towards the door, which nearly flew off of its hinges before he hurtled into the hall. Perry quickly followed, finding the corridor absolutely empty.

"Where DJ?" A small, timid voice asked. With a sigh, Perry hugged Jack to him.

"He just needs to be alone for a while," he replied soothingly, glancing around the hall once more before heading back into the apartment.

0 o 0 o 0

The second JD stepped out of Perry's apartment building, he felt an unbelievably cold chill seep into his chest, and he shivered. His initial thought was that he should have grabbed a jacket before he left, but when realization hit, he could do no more than give a weak laugh. How was it that a ghost could be cold, anyway?

His gaze wandered warily to the sidewalk across the street, where he found his black-cloaked admirer waiting for him. It looked different than before, not like his ideal grim reaper at all. In fact, it didn't really look like anything but a billowing shroud of dark smoke hanging in the air. And even though it didn't appear to have any eyes, JD could tell it was watching him.

He shivered again and started down the sidewalk, glad that Perry had not followed him. He vaguely wondered if the older man would be able to see his "shadow." After all, he hadn't been able to see Melanie. And that lead to the question of whether or not he saw ghosts at work. What a nightmare. How could he stand it? He pushed the question to the back of his mind – he would ask Perry later when he wasn't so God damn mad at him . . . or himself.

He found his way back to the cemetery rather quickly, making his way to Melanie's grave, where she sat in the grass. She held a stuffed animal out in front of her – a rabbit, JD guessed – making it dance while she hummed an old tune softly. With a relieved sigh, he sat down next to her, chancing a glance back towards the gate, where the dark being hovered just outside the barrier.

"Back so soon, JD?" Melanie asked quietly, her eyes never leaving her rabbit.

"Yea," JD nodded, twisting his fingers in his lap and staring at his shoes. They were his old, comfortable sneakers, the ones that the janitor had sprayed red – only they weren't red anymore. He wore the clothes he had died in, a pair of fading jeans and a hooded sweatshirt with some foreign logo that Turk had said looked cool. Looking back on the day he had slit his wrists, he wished he hadn't worn it. Turk would forever be plagued with the thought that his best friend killed himself in the sweatshirt he had gotten him for Christmas.

"I just . . . needed to get away for a bit," he continued, turning his palms up so that the scars on his wrist showed plainly in the mid-morning light.

"Did it help that Perry could see you?"

JD looked up slowly, his brows furrowing as he asked, "How do you know about Doctor Cox?"

The girl giggled. "Everyone knows Perry. He's the Apparitionist – the one who helps ghosts into the afterlife."

"But . . . he didn't see you," JD pointed out. He sat forward slightly as she offered her rabbit to him but found he was unable to grip it, and it fell to the ground.

"Perry only sees who he is supposed to see," Melanie explained gently, reaching for the rabbit and offering it to the man again with an encouraging smile.

"So, he doesn't see ghosts at the hospital," JD stated, reaching out for the stuffed animal again, only to have it slip between his fingers for the second time. He sighed with frustration as the girl picked it up and held it out once more.

"Not always," she replied releasing the toy and watching it fall to the ground as JD made a grab for it. His hand dropped, and he glared at the rabbit, his eyes narrowing.

"What do you mean?" He inquired, staring straight into marble eyes of the subject of his annoyance.

"Most terminal patients that go to the hospital know that they're going die. They don't have any unfinished business, so they don't need to stick around." She giggled at the face that JD was making as he concentrated on the rabbit. "The ones that do have to stay, don't for very long and usually don't need Perry's help. Mostly, their unfinished business is just saying goodbye to their families."

JD looked up at this. "So, that could be my unfinished business, right? I just have to say goodbye to Dan . . . and maybe Mom." He winced as he listed his mother as part of the family. They hadn't gotten along very well after he left. Not that he minded much . . .

Melanie sighed sadly, saying, "I'm not so sure it's that simple, JD. You took your own life. You must have something big on your mind; otherwise Perry wouldn't have to help you."

"There's nothing there," the young man replied bitterly, grinding his teeth. Suddenly, the rabbit lifted from the ground, floating in front of them for a moment before dropping and bouncing on the grass. Melanie's eyes widened, and she slowly looked from the stuffed animal to JD's confused gaze.

"What?" The young man inquired innocently. Suddenly, her lips spread in a wide smile, and she pounced on him, knocking him backwards.

"Guardian!" She shrieked with excitement. "You're the Guardian!"

AN: Questions? Comments? Vague disregard for any or all words written and established in the mind of one who has no sanity?

Well, Kats and Kittens, that's all for now. Sorry to leave it like that, but, like I said, if this damn site wasn't acting up so friggin' much, I'd have Chapter 5 done and posted already. /Sigh/ But I hope you liked it nonetheless. :) Later, Gators! Catch you on the flip side!