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
