Chapter Four

Yesterday could have very well been the craziest day of my life. Having the CIA agent come and practically shut down the hospital, Sydney, the angel from above, coming into my life...Cox getting his ass kicked and wimpering like a little baby. What more could a guy ask for?

**Daydream**

"Look, JD, I'm a
real dog, just like you wished for!"

I look at Rowdy lovingly as I begin to tear up.

"I know Rowdy, I know. This has been the most amazing day of my life."

**End Daydream**


Okay, maybe it could have been more awesome than it was, but I have a feeling that would be asking for a bit too much.

The point I was trying to get at was that the day kicked ass, and not only did we not have to treat any new patients then, but we also have no new patients now. It's not that I don't like my patients, it's just that somedays you just don't feel like getting little Franky to poop out his mother's jewelry or having Old Lady Hobo coming in and trying to put the moves on me.

I know I'm undeniably gorgeous and women can't keep their hands, eyes, or thoughts off me, but enough is enough!

**Flashback**

"Heyyy, ladies. What's goin down in the
hot ladies corner of the bar," I say, giving my trademark JD head nod and wink to the two hot blondes sitting in front of me.

They start to stifle their laughs and I laugh too, nudging the girl closest to me with my shoudler.

"Security!"

Oh sh-t.

**End Flashback**


I see Turk coming down the hall and I quickly catch up with him.

"Hey, Turkinator. Turkster. Turk-a-Lurk-a-Ding-Dong--"

"Dude, what have I told you about not putting my name into rhymes?"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," I say quickly, "I won't do it again. Now you wanna go out and get something to eat? I'm starving and there's nothing to do here."

"Sorry, man, but I have some patients I have to check up on, maybe later." He says then walks toward the elevator as he looks at the charts in his hand.

Stupid surgeons. And their stupid surgery patients. That they always have to check up on...Stupidly.

Ooh, Elliot! She'd never, and I mean never turn down an opportunity to go to lunch. Pigging out is certainly her forte. She's standing by the Vaughn guy's bed, and is just staring down at him sadly.

"Hey, Elliot..." I say softly, not wanting to interrupt this moment she's having.

"Oh, hey, JD." She replies quietly, wiping her face. Wait a second...Was she crying?

"Elliot, what's wrong?" I ask, touching her shoulder, gently.

"It's nothing. You're just gonna make fun of me or something."

"Since when would I do thing like that?" I ask, leading her towards the counter, where we can talk.

**Flashback**

Your father CUT YOU OFF?! HA. HA. HA. So little miss perfect won't get to have her palace of an apartment and will have to live in studio apartment, just like the rest of us. Oh boo hoo. No money for food?! HA, serves you right for eating...Pizza every night.

**End Flashback**


She's about to speak up and shoot me down, I'm sure, when I cut her off. "Don't answer that."

"JD, really, it's nothing, I have to go--"

"Come on, Elliot, it's me. Trusy old JD. The guy who's always here as your shoulder to cry on and the body to snuggle against." ALL. NIGHT. LONG.

BOOYAH.

"JD, you're such an ass."

"I know, now tell me what's wrong."

"It's just..."

Speak woman, for the love of God!

"I'm just scared." She finally spit out.

"Scared of what?" I ask, concerned. Elliot's not the kind of woman that openly admits that she's scared, so this is a little troubling.

**Flashback**

"I'm scared of cats, dogs, fleas, any kind of insects, arachnids, mallets, animals dressed up as humans, humans dressed up as animals--"

**End Flashback**


Okay, she is one to openly admit her fears, but not to the point where she'd actually shed tears over it. This can't be good.

"I'm just scared that what if I end up like him. Sitting on a hospital bed, on the verge of death, knowing that I never found my one true love. And died alone and--"

"But he's not alone, he has Sydney--"

"And the bitch girlfriend, I know but--"

"And you have your little Murse Flowers man. Before you know it, you guys will be walking down the aisle and churning out little murses like crazy." Okay, you need to realize before I go on, how much it pained me to say this. Pain doesn't adequately express the emotion I felt when speaking of the Male Nurse that puts all other Male Nurses to shame with his Mursey-ness. I feel like puking just talking about him. But what else am I supposed to say?

Oh Elliot, have no fear for your knight in shining armor is here. To whisk you away and live happily ever after with you.

Uh, no.

Elliot sighed and rolled her eyes as she started to walk away.

"JD, me and Paul broke up."

HALLELUJAH. HALLELUJAH.

"Really?" I ask excitedly, causing Elliot to turn around, confused by my exicted reaction. "I mean...uh...Really? What happened? I thought you guys were having a great little...uh...Relationship thingy..."

**Daydream**

*Cue "Let's Get it On"*

"You broke up? The son-of-a-bitch." I say, and scoot closer to Elliot on the couch.

"I know, after all we'd been through, he broke up with me. I feel sad and defenseless...Have sex with me JD."

"I thought you'd never ask..."

**End Daydream**


"Well, it wasn't," Elliot sighs and crosses her arms. "So what if I die alone, JD, after contracting some virus that no one knows anything about and doesn't have a cure? I won't have a Sydney to go get the antidote and save me. I'd just wither away and die. Alone. With no one. No one but Mr. Fluffy. And I don't even have Mr. Fluffy because I left him at home last Christmas! I'm screwed JD! I can just forget about Bono singing at my wedding."

Um, okay...I'm just gonna pretend like she didn't just say all that.

And I'm still hungry.

"Hey, Elliot, you wanna go out to lunch and we can talk about it?" I call out as she walks down the hall, away from me. She turns around and starts walking backwards.

"Didn't you hear, JD? We can't leave. We've been confined to the hospital until Mr. Vaughn gets the antidote or dies. He might as well die because what's the use of saving such a hot guy if I can't even be with him? I'm going to die alone, JD. All alone," she raises her arms into the air as she finishes and turns around, continuing to walk down the hall.

Um, okay...So that didn't turn out so well. And I can't go out to eat. So I guess that leaves me with the vending machines. Vending machines, here I come.

I reach into my pockets as I approach the machines, and pull out my wallet.

Dammit.

"Hey, you need a buck or two?" I look up to see the Janitor hovering over me menacingly. How does he always manage to creep up without me realizing it? I'll never understand.

"Uhh, yeah actually, I'd pay you back--"

He pulls out out a stack of ones from his pocket and starts fanning himself with them. "Oh how the tables have turned."

"What? What are you talking about."

"Dr. Richie Rich is asking the little ole Janitor for money. I never thought I'd see the day."

"It's no big deal...It's just a buck." I scoff.

"Oh, so it's just a buck now, eh?" Oh sh-t. I've made him angry. Oh sh-t. "Well, these little bills may be just a few bucks but that could be the difference between my son getting real shoes or wearing the strips of leather I found in the dumpster that my wife made into mocassins by sewing together with her pinkie and thumb since she lost all the other fingers working in the factories since she was twelve."

You've gotta be kidding me. I stare at him for a moment before breaking out into hysterics.

"You are the absolute worst actor on the face of this Earth. I mean...Mocassins? Couldnt you have come up with anything better than that? And who just happens to stumble upon scraps of leather in the dumpster?"

Oh sh-t. My laughter slowly fades away as I notice the furious expression taking shape on the janitor's face.

Run for the hills! He's gonna blow!

"You think my life's funny?"

"No, sir, no I don't sir."

"Yes you do."

I stand in complete and utter fear, and I think I may just be trembling. Holy shiznit. Did I wet my pants? For the love of God, please say I did not just pee my pants.

The smell of ammonia fills my senses, and I slowly break eye contact with him and look down at my pants. Holy sh--

Thank God. Not pee. Gotta say I'm a tad relieved there. Sure my crotch may be soaked in some cleaning agent that I'm sure will leave a burning sensation on my little buddy, but it's far better than peeing my pants in public.

Holy sh-t. No it's not.

I sprint to the locker room as fast as I can, hearing only the janitor's scary-ass laugh echo in my mind.

Why is my life so goddamn hard?

---

After a much needed change of clothes, I make my way back to the area near the front desk where Vaughn's bed is. I walk up to it and see that he's fast asleep, the way he's pretty much always been since Mr. Bristow left yesterday afternoon.

"Why can't my life be as easy as yours? Sitting on your deathbed waiting for the most gorgeous woman I've ever seen to save your life." I say outloud, not expecting any response, seeing that this area is virtually empty except for me and him.

Which gives me the thought...How cool would it be to be best friends with this guy?!

**Daydream**

"Dude, can I wear your gun holster? Please? Pretty please with cherries on top?"

"Okay, but only if you never pretty please me with cherries on top ever again."

"Will do. Weeeeeeeee, I'm wearing a gun holster! Come and get me ladies, cuz I know you want me."

**End Daydream**


"My life's not as easy as you think, man." Holy sh-t, the virtually dead man speaks!

I can't help but feel embarassed after being caught talking to a guy that I thought was either asleep or unconcious.

"I'm sorry, I thought you were--"

"Asleep, I know." He says, struggling to lean up a little bit in his bed.

"Hey, try not to move around. It can't be good for you if you have to try that hard, you know?"

He laughs lightly, then turns his head towards me on the pillow.

"What's your name?" He asks softly.

"JD."

"Hey, JD, I'm Mike," he says, lifting his hand as much as he can, which is about an inch above the bed. I quickly reach my hand over and shake his.

Funny, despite his weakened state, the man still has a firm handshake. I'm impressed. But then again, I was impressed when he had the women flocking to him like bees to pollen.

"So how'd this all happen, Mike?" I ask, curious to hear the backstory behind this crazy virus that has infected his body.

"It's a long story." He says, shaking his head sadly. I pull up a chair and take a seat beside his bed.

"Well, I've got time." He pauses for a moment and looks at me.

"I can trust you, right?" He asks, furrowing his eyebrows.

**Flashback**

"I can trust you, right man?" Turk asks me seriously.

"Of course," I respond quickly.

(The Next Day)

"Dude, Miss Piggy?! That's kinky man!" Todd exclaims, reaching his hand up to give Turk a high five. Turk gives me the death stare, and I run like there's no tomorrow.

**End Flashback**


"Of course." I say, blocking that memory from my mind.

"Well, it all started a little more than a year ago when Sydney Bristow walked into my office at the CIA headquarters..."

---

An Hour Later

"I guess the big question is," I start, taking a deep breath as I try to digest all the information he's told me in the past hour, "do you love her?"

He looks at me and is about to answer when his eyes bug out. "Oh sh-t." He pretends to be asleep and I turn around to see what scared the sh-t out of him.

"Oh hey, JD. Were you talking to Michael there?" Elliot asks, approaching me fast.

"Oh, nah, I was just...Um...Watching him sleep." Dammit, JD, you could have come up with any excuse, but you chose the blatantly homosexual one. This is not the kind of thing that will clear up my name at this hospital.

"Oh I totally understand," Elliot says excitedly as she walks up to the bed and stands by the head of it, "he looks beautiful while he sleeps, doesn't he?"

Okay, yeah, it's really creepy that Mike has to listen to her say this and she doesn't even know it. Really creepy.

"Uh, yeah. So Elliot, Dr. Kelso came through here about ten minutes ago, asking for you. He said that he wanted to talk to you about how the apartment search was going?"

"Oh really?" She asks excitedly. Oh, you gotta love what a guillible fool Elliot is.

"Uh-huh," I respond, reciprocating her excitement.

"I'll go find him then. Thanks for telling me, JD."

When Elliot finally walks into the elevator and I wave bye to her as the door closes, I make my way back to the bed, and take a seat next to him.

"Thanks, man. That woman is insane." He says, breathing a sigh of relief.

"Trust me, I know. We used to go out."

"Are you kidding?! You had sex with her?!" He asks incredulously. You would think that a man who was on the verge of death wouldn't be able to express such disbelief in his weakened state. Hey, there's something attractive about her freakish tendencies. That and her hot bod.

"It's a long story." I say, laughing.

"Well, I've got time," he replies, repeating the same words I said more than an hour ago.

"I'm sure you do, but you've chosen to skillfully avert my previous question, which I think was verging on some real progress. Sydney. Do you love her?"

He takes a deep breath, then nods his head slowly.

"Yeah," he looks up and makes eye contact with me, "so much it hurts, man."

"Literally and figuratively!" I say, laughing at my witty reference to his illness, but he clearly doesn't find it funny, so I shut up quickly. "Well then, why don't you tell her?"

"It's too complicated. The effect of those three little words could very well destroy our live as we know it."

"But it could also give you everything you ever wanted." I say smiling. Mike looks down and I see his Adam's apple bob as he swallows.

"God, JD, I'm so scared."

"What, that she won't love you back? Trust me, dude, she will. There's no doubt in my mind. And it's not just because she's out risking her life as we speak to save yours, but...God, you should have just seen her when she came here to see you and you were sent up to the OR. There's absolutely no way this woman doesn't love you."

A faint smile crosses his lips, but fades as fast as it appeared.

"No...I'm just scared that...I won't make it through this to tell her--"

"Hey," I cut him off, with a smile on my face, "you're gonna make it through this. Trust me."

We sit in silence for a few moments before he speaks up again.

"Thanks, JD. Thanks a lot."

"No problem, man." I say, leaning back in my chair. "Now tell me about this Alice woman that came to see you yesterday. She says she was listed as your emergency contact because she's your girlfriend." My eyebrows raise with the last word, and I can't help but laugh as he covers his face with his hand and groans.

"You're kidding me, right?" He asks, taking his hand down and looking at me again. "My girlfriend? That woman is insane."

"So she's not your girlfriend? Because she introduced herself to Sydney as that."

"F--k."

I laugh again as Michael lets out another groan.

"She's only still listed as my emergency contact because I haven't had another girlfriend that knew so much about me and knew my family contacts since I broke up with her."

"Lemme guess, you broke up with her when you were assigned as Sydney's handler."

"You got it," he says, lifting his finger and pointing to me, "you're a smart guy, JD."

"Atleast someone thinks I am," I joke.

All of a sudden, the doors fly open and Sydney and her father come rushing through the doors toward me and Michael.

"Speak of the devil." I mutter under my breath.

"Sydney," he says faintly as she approaches him. She smiles sadly and fumbles with the vial in her hand before her father snatches it out of her hands.

"Give it to me, you're far too nervous to do something that's so crucial to Vaughn's survival."

I find myself smiling at the scene in front of me like a Mother sending her daughter off to the prom. Or me and Turk marvelling at Rowdy's amazing tricks seeing that he's only a stuffed dog.

They are staring at each in a way that I've never seen two people ever look at each other. A look can speak volumes, that's for sure. They both know how they feel about it, regardless of whether it's been said outloud or not. They know it deep down inside.

Jack injects Vaughn with the antidote and places the needle on the side.

"VAUGHN!" I hear Sydney scream as the machines connected to him start to go off again. "JD!" Sydney calls desperately out to me.

Oh f--k.

I race to the bed and pick up the phone beside it and page Dr. Cox and Dr. Kelso.

END CHAPTER FOUR