JD poked his chicken salad with a plastic fork, sighing as he leaned back into his chair. He sat up when his cell phone let out a muffled ring from his scrubs pocket, and he placed the fork down, reaching for it. "Hello?"
"V-Bear!" Turk exclaimed cheerfully on the other line.
JD felt himself grin wider than he had in a while. "Hey, Chocolate Bear," he chuckled, continuing to poke at his food.
"How's it going, man? You haven't called us."
"Sorry, Turk," JD sighed. "I've just been preoccupied with stuff."
"How's the new job?" he asked, sounding excited.
"I'm actually at work now, but I'm on my lunch break. It's okay."
"You okay, VB?" Turk asked, sounding worried.
"Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine. I just didn't sleep all that well last night. I'm still getting used to the time difference and my shifts aren't really helping all that much," he murmured sheepishly.
"It's my first off day since you left. It's kind of boring without you here, dude." The sound of a baby crying leaked in from the other line, and JD heard Turk gently murmur to Izzy. "Oh, how's Kim and Sam?"
"I've only seen them once since I've been here," JD sighed. "They're okay."
"You sure you're okay, JD?" Turk asked.
JD smiled. "Yeah. Listen, I'll call you later, alright? I gotta finish with lunch before my break ends."
"Yeah, no problem, dude. Don't be a stranger," Turk said, his tone teasing.
"Sounds like everything's okay," a gruff voice remarked as JD hung up his phone.
JD glanced up at Doctor House in surprise, tucking his phone back into his pocket. "Hi, Doctor House," he greeted him awkwardly.
"You're not your usual ray of sunshine this morning," he said, sitting across from him. He produced a medicine bottle from his pocket, rattling its contents at the younger man. "Happy pills?"
JD looked at him strangely. "Er, no, thank you," he muttered.
"So what's the real reason why you're here?" House asked, narrowing his eyes at him.
JD stared at his untouched food. "What do you mean?"
"A person doesn't just up and leave their comfort zone -- which, in your case, happens to be roughly three thousand miles away -- unless he's running away from something," House said. He stared at him for a moment. "Or chasing?"
JD and House glanced up when Wilson joined them at the table.
"Why does this feel like an intervention?" JD muttered wearily.
Wilson held his hands up after his setting his tray down. "No intervening here," he assured before giving House a curious look.
"Have you ever heard of Erving Goffman's 'The Presentation of Self'?" House asked, biting into his sandwich.
"A little, from what I remember from my humanities courses," JD replied, frowning.
House swallowed his mouthful, chasing it down with a sip from his water bottle. "Well, I -- the audience -- am perceiving that you -- the actor -- as a more dimensional character than I initially acknowledged." He sneered. "There's more to you than the complacent lapdog persona, isn't there?"
"Uh," JD said unintelligibly, frowning at the older man in confusion.
"What House is trying to say is that he's bored. And when he's bored, he'll tie anyone up on the proverbial autopsy table and peel back their layers while they scream profanities at him and he'll enjoy every minute of it," Wilson deadpanned.
"Oh," JD muttered. "Thanks for the translation." He winced. "And the analogy."
House grinned. "So," he said, "what's your sob story?"
The younger man shrugged. "Family," he said vaguely. "Sort of."
"C'mon, I love anecdotes!" House said, leaning forward with feigned giddiness.
JD sighed, sagging into his chair in defeat. "I got my girlfriend pregnant, except I broke up with her in the delivery room, but then I did some thinking and I decided that I at least want to be a part of my son's life."
"But?" House prompted. "There's gotta be a but. There's no excitement without the but!"
"But . . . " JD sighed again, and House perked up, "I visited her and Sam two days ago and her boyfriend walked in. This . . . wasn't how I imagined it would be."
"You're right," a feminine voice cut in gravely, directly from above them. "This definitely isn't how I thought it would be."
JD glanced up at the woman in front of them, his expression warring between surprise and trepidation. "Kim," he greeted breathily.
She smiled softly at him, readjusting the infant in her arms. "JD."
"When . . . ? How?" JD sputtered.
"My, he's so coherent. Is this what attracted him to you in the first place?" House said with glee. He jabbed Wilson with his elbow, grinning. "Look, we get front seats to the show!"
"That's my boss, Doctor House. Well, sort of. But not really," JD said apologetically.
Kim glanced at House before frowning at JD. "Huh?"
"I was sort of conned into working here," JD admitted. "I'll explain it all later. But, uh, where was I?"
"When," House prompted helpfully. "And how."
JD cast his boss a mildly annoyed glance before standing and taking Kim by the elbow. "Later, Doctor House, Doctor Wilson," he said with a halfhearted wave, leading her off to the lobby.
House grinned. "Now I can mark off abandonment on his checklist and report this to Cuddy. And much like hate leads to anger, abandonment leads to negligence. Cuddy'll be so disappointed, don't you think?"
Wilson frowned at him. "You're still trying to fire him?" he asked incredulously. "He's on break."
The older man glanced at his watch. "In thirty seconds, he won't be."
Wilson and House glanced up as JD kissed the top of his son's head before jogging towards the elevators.
House sneered. "Damn it. Not only does he have a complacent lapdog persona, but a goody two shoes one as well." He gave a dramatic sigh. "This guy is more dimensional than I thought."
Wilson shot him a disbelieving look. "You honestly thought he was as simple-minded as to jump to attention at Cuddy's every beck and call?"
The older man shrugged. "No, but it'd be a lot more fun if he was," he replied airily before taking a bite of his neglected sandwich.
Cuddy smiled as she saw JD emerge from a patient's room. "Doctor Dorian," she called out, beckoning him over.
"Hi, Doctor Cuddy," JD said with a tired smile. "What's up?"
The woman's smile grew. "I want to introduce you to someone."
JD followed her into the next available elevator and down a corridor to her office. He curiously peered into the room as she held the door open for him, taking notice of the man sitting dejectedly in the seat in front of Cuddy's desk.
"Doctor Foreman," Cuddy said, and the man in the seat jerked to his feet, glancing at the Dean of Medicine before looking at JD curiously. She smiled at the similar looks of confusion on their faces. "Doctor Foreman, this is Doctor John Dorian. He's one of House's candidates, but he's my pick."
"Hi," JD said awkwardly.
Foreman gave them an amused grin. "Trying to tie House down again?"
Cuddy sighed, crossing her arms to her chest. "Foreman, JD will be shadowing you. Although I'd love to be of more assistance to you, Doctor Dorian, I've got bigger obligations to tend to in this hospital." She looked at Foreman, grinning. "I assure you that he's a very competent doctor. I'm sure the two of you will get along great."
Beside them, JD beamed. "I gotta tell Turk!" he blurted. "I bet you're like a dark chocolate version of him," he said dreamily.
Foreman gave Cuddy an incredulous look.