"Mom would you please stop fussing, I'm fine." Dan shook his casted arm at her. He was becoming annoyed. They'd been there all day. He couldn't keep up the charade too much longer. Duncan looked like he was getting increasingly annoyed, and he swore his mom asked about JD every 10minutes. "Can you please just go home?"
Barbara stared at her son. He'd never been this forward and aggressive about things before. "Are you sure you're alright?"
"I'm fine." He rolled his eyes. "I'm just tired. I'm a grown man who came here to see my brother. I can take care of myself."
Duncan angrily sighed from a chair in the corner of the room.
"Where is your brother any way?" His mom spoke. "I know we all don't see him very often, but you'd think he'd be willing to see his brother at a hospital so close to where he lives. I don't honestly know what's wrong with that boy. It's like he doesn't want anything to do with us anymore." She smoothed out the blankets on the bed. "I swear Daniel, he's just stirring up drama that doesn't need to be there anymore. We both know that those issues are over and done with. I don't see why…"
"Mom just shut up!" His volume even startled himself. "I know you don't mean that. Please, just leave him out of this. He'll see you when he's ready, and he's not ready. I don't think he'll ever be ready, so can you just stop talking about it. We all know what went on."
She looked away from her son, shock written on her face. When had JD told him?
"I know everything mom. Why do you think I came here? To protect him from you…" he lowered her voice so only she could her it "and him." His eyes narrowed towards the general direction of Duncan. He couldn't stand this anymore. He couldn't protect JD from this bed if he didn't speak up. He needed them to go home. He knew they couldn't find out where he was.
She dropped her hands from the bed. "I think it's time we went home."
He couldn't bite his tongue. "Good. Avoid the issue. Just what your both good at." He closed his eyes and put his head down into his pillow. God it's been a long day. Seeing them at home is one thing, but this is too hard. He could hear his parents getting up to leave, but opening his eyes when he heard a knock at the door.
"Hey man!" Turk yelled as he cheerfully stood in the doorway. "Just thought I'd give you the good news myself. Carla's going to come up in a bit with a wheelchair, take you to see your brother. I know that's what you've been waiting for." And with that, he hurried away about as fast as he breezed in.
Barbara turned to her son again quickly. Duncan put down his things. Dan closed his eyes and readied himself.
"You didn't tell me he was here!" She started yelling at him. "Why wouldn't you tell me he was here? You knew we drove all this way to see him. He's my son Daniel, you can't keep him away from me!"
"You kept him away on your own. He chooses not to come home because of you. He lives states away because of you. This is your fault. Don't blame me!"
"I'm going to find him." Turning to Duncan. "You. Stay here. I'll be back." She angrily spoke as she stomped out the door.
Duncan took a seat next to Dan's bed. His body had changed from irritated to flat out aggressive. And although Dan knew he'd never laid a hand on him, he'd laid too many hands on JD. He had a right to be scared of being in this room alone with him. Turning away as to not face him, he started to cry. I tried little brother. I'm sorry that wasn't enough.
She looked around for anyone who might be able to help her. Someone who looked busy and probably wouldn't even second-guess why she was asking about room numbers. "Hi Nurse…Carter is it?" as she read the woman's nametag. She looked new enough not to even be a full time nurse. Intern maybe? "I'm looking for John Dorian's room. Can you tell me where that is?"
Barbara was right; the nurse didn't even look up at her. "Right across from the nurses station ma'am." She point across the hall. "He's in pretty rough shape. I'm sorry."
Barbara stared in through the doorway at her youngest son. She'd been hoping to see him, that's why she'd driven all this way. Hesitating she tip toed through the door, and making sure no one was looking, she closed the door behind her. She wanted some time to herself.
It'd be a long time since she'd seen John. He didn't look much different. He'd always looked more innocent than Daniel, but she could be honest with herself and say that wasn't really true anymore. Dan was for the most part she thought, ha been completely unaware of what had been going on. I bet you didn't even tell him up until recently. He seems more protective of you now.
Barbara sighed out loud. "What am I doing here son?" She took a step towards the bed. "I know that…I know you didn't ask me to come. I know you would've rather I not come at all. It's your life now. But I wanted to apologize." She'd practiced in her head the whole drive here. Although honestly she didn't think it'd be that hard, but it was probably easier knowing he couldn't hear her or talk back. "I wanted to say how sorry I was. I married the wrong man. Your real father, he took care of you. Duncan, he hurt you. And I let him. I shouldn't have let him. I feel guilty and horrible and know that I can never take back what I did to you." This wasn't the first time she'd had to look at her son in a hospital bed. It wasn't even the 2nd time. There had been so many occasions it was a wonder why this was even so difficult for her to look at any more. Her eyes kept darting to different parts of the room, only to drift back again.
Dr. Cox started making his rounds again. The on-call room had been empty, making it a somewhat decent sleep. He hadn't had to block out anyone trying to use it as a hook up closet. Some people preferred to go home and be called back if there was an emergency, and most of the time he would have to agree. But he didn't want to have a 20minute drive in between him and his patient should something happen. He'd deny it should anyone ask, but he cared for JD, and had spent time before he fell asleep trying to picture his life without the blasted puppy following him around all the time. He couldn't picture it, not even for a minute. He'd dumped the majority of his parents off in his interns, but kept the ones he knew they couldn't handle. Surprisingly he'd not been paged at all during his much needed rest, but he was sure it was because the nursing staff, mostly Carla, had threatened that he'd kill them should they dare wake him up. By this time he was sure the gossip of JD being here had worked it's way around the hospital.
Before he picked up his charts from the nurses desk, he just wanted to check on Joanna. Although he was sure nothing had changed, it hadn't been enough time; he just wanted to be certain. As he got closer to the room though, he could hear someone talking inside. He paused for a minute just outside the door, trying to figure out who it was and what they were saying.
"I couldn't have treated you worse. You're my son. How could I choose someone else over you? All those years you put up with Duncan; I'm to blame for those. You should never have felt the way I'm sure you do. Dan shouldn't be the one protecting you now; I should've been doing it all along. But honey, it's too late to take all that back now. Duncan would really like to see you. He's been in therapy. I think it's really been helping. I think you'd see it too. It'd be really great if you could just forgive him and we could all move on with our lives. You could come home for Christmas, or Thanksgiving. We could be a family again. Wouldn't you like that?" She could feel herself getting angry with him. "If you had just figured out how not to piss him off all the time, he wouldn't have had to do all those things to you."
He'd heard enough. Turning the door handle as quietly as possible, he pushed it open and stood just inside. Face angered. How dare she.
"You just never could keep your mouth shut. You always had to push his buttons…"
"What the hell are you doing in here?"
Barbara jumped. She hadn't heard anyone else come in the room. She turned to see Dr. Cox standing in the doorway. "I'm sorry. I just…"
"You just what? Wanted to hurt him some more?" He snarled. "Get out."
"Listen here, he's my son and I don't think you have any right…"
Dr. Cox walked up to her. Inches from her face he started yelling. "No. You listen here! You threw this kid away and he came here. We're the ones looking out for him. You have no right to be in here. You know he doesn't, and wouldn't want you here. So you need to go pick up that piece of trash you call a husband, and go home."
Barbara stared at him with tears in her eyes. Maybe he's right. She looked down at her son once more, letting go of his hand, and began to walk away.
Cox didn't take his eyes off her as she started to walk away. At least not until his stare was interrupted by a very quiet groaning sound. He looked away from the putrid woman and saw JD's eyes start to flutter. Ventilator still in, he knew what had to happen. "Hey Newbie?" He cleared his throat from the shock of his protege awakening. "Hey JD? It's time to wake up sleeping beauty."
JD groaned. His eyes felt like cement. He could hear the murmuring of someone talking, but couldn't really make out what they were saying. He was having a hard time getting any air into his lungs. The air kept getting caught in his chest on the way down. Trying to blink, panic was setting in. Why was his throat so dry? He tried lifting his head to no avail. His mind felt fuzzy like it was filled with cotton candy. Finally his eyes opened just enough to see a blurry face staring down at him.
Dr. Cox hit the nurse's page button above the bed. He knew it wouldn't take long for one of them to show up. "It's too early for this kid. You should still be sleeping." He grabbed both side of JD's face gently. The neck brace was doing a fine job holding his head, but he didn't want him to panic. He watched as JD's eyes flickered open and closed a few times as they tried to focus. Even once they remained open, they were blank and groggy. "Listen. JD. I need you to focus on me okay?" He pushed his forehead against his. "I need you to look at me."
The voices were becoming clearer. Was that doctor Cox? His eyes closed and he forced them back open again. Things were a bit clearer this time. So he tried again. Third times a charm, above him was, yes, Dr. Cox. His eyes darted around confused. He was still having a hard time receiving any air. He wanted nothing more than to suck in fresh oxygen and be able to move his body.
"I know you know the drill Newbie. On the count of three, cough, and I promise it'll make this process a whole lot easier. Just for the love of god stop panicking." He backed his face away and grabbed the tube. Hoping this was the right choice even though it was early he counted "One. Two. Three."