After this, I'm not sure how long it'll be until I put the next chapter up. I like to always stay at least 4 chapters ahead, and since school started last week I don't have so much time to write. Plus, I've got to the point of explaining what happened to JD, and I haven't entirely decided yet. I've had quite a few ideas, but I want to get it right. You know, like something major but not over the top. I'm fairly sure what I'm going to do, but I still need to put a little thought into it.

"Ok, so what did you want?" I posed as my first question as soon as we'd sat down in the cafeteria.

"Uh, well, i-it's just…" He mumbled something that I couldn't hear and looked away, blushing slightly again.

"Look, I wouldn't usually give up my time for something like this, so make the most of it, would ya?" He looked at me blankly. "Don't. Mumble." I said slowly. He nodded.

"I was wondering how…how you got him to like you." I blinked.

"What?!" The intern shifted in his seat.

"I mean I try everything. I work hard so maybe he'll respect me as a doctor, I try to get him to come out with me after work, I've even tried leaving him alone, seeing as that's what he always says he wants." I shook my head in disbelief, unable to comprehend what I was being told.

"You want to know how I got Newbie to like me." I rolled my eyes at his confused expression. "Dr. Dorian." He nodded. "To tell you the truth kid, I can't help you." He frowned.

"But you must know. You came all the way here to see him, and-" I groaned. That was exactly what I didn't want people to think.

"No, Lillian. The chief of medicine at my hospital sent me to some medical conference near here. I really would not have come otherwise. I was never friends with Dorian. Hell, I did everything I could to get him not to like me. It just never worked."

"Oh." The intern nodded thoughtfully. "You're a lot like him." He added. I grimaced a little but didn't say anything.

"So now maybe you could help me?" I prompted. He looked at me with wide eyes.

"I don't know… I'm just an intern…" I leant forward slightly across the table.

"Don't worry," I said in a stage whisper. "I won't give you away. No one else need know." He gave me a strange look. "For God's sake, Mandy, could you please just try and get at least one of your two brain cells into action and listen to what I'm saying? Now, anything you can tell me about Dorian would be re-he-heally useful, mmm-kay?" He still looked a little afraid, but at least he seemed like he was about to speak.

"I don't really know what to say. I'm not sure anyone knows much about him." I gritted my teeth together to stop myself getting started on useless interns. I'd intended to be nice to this one, after all.

"What was he like when he first got here?" I pushed.

"Different, I guess. In any case, that's what I've heard people say.."

"Heard?" I questioned.

"Well, he started here before me."

I really hadn't meant to growl at the intern. Or call him useless. Or any of the other things I'd said. It wasn't his fault that he had only been here for three months. I was just so frustrated. The kid, I was guessing, was probably the only person in the whole damn hospital who didn't hate JD. I wasn't sure anyone else would be willing to talk about him, unless it was to bitch and moan. I slumped down in one of the chairs in the waiting area and put my head in my hands, pushing my fingers against my closed eyes. I didn't need to get so stressed out about it. In fact, it wasn't like it was my responsibility if Newbie wanted to ruin his life. Why should I care? A year ago I might have felt accountable for his problems, but back then he was still convinced that I was his mentor. He didn't want me around anymore, so why was I still here? It was pathetic.

I had just about made my mind up to leave when I heard shouting. It took me a few moments to process it since I was thinking so deeply, but it was Newbie. I glanced up just in time to see him disappear around a corner. A group on nurses were huddled together, talking in quiet voices. Presumably they had been the ones to suffer the brunt of his rant. I stood up and went over to them, intending to ask them what had happened, but their conversation caught my attention.

"I heard he wasn't always like that."

"Yeah, me too. Graham said that-"

"Graham?"

"That red-headed intern that's always following him around. Apparently that guy who came in looking for him yesterday was really shocked to find out what our great doctor is all about."

"It's true. You remember when he first came here?"

"Right. He was just this nice kid who was trying to be a badass, but you could tell he didn't really have it in him."

"I wonder what changed…"

So this thing, whatever it was, that had happened to JD had occurred while he was at his new hospital. That meant it didn't have anything to do with his brother or leaving his friends, which up until now had been my best guesses.

Without thinking, I began to walk down the hall that JD had turned into, looking through every open door to check if he was in a room. It wasn't too long until I found him, leaning against the wall in some sort of doctors' lounge. He lifted his head up when I closed the door, only to drop it again when he saw me. I heard him sigh.

"You don't want me here." I stated.

"How'd you figure that one out? It's like something you said once. Maybe it's because you just know me so well. Or, maybe, it's because I told you." I ignored him.

"Why?" He pulled his head up and back, letting it hit the wall with an audible thud.

"Why what?" He asked tiredly.

"Why don't you want me here?" He scoffed.

"Haven't we already covered this? Like earlier this morning?" Again, I paid him no attention.

"You're scared." I saw he was about to make another comment so I hurriedly got to my point. "You're scared that anything from Sacred Heart is going to make you face whatever it is you're hiding from. That's why you don't talk to any of your old friends and it's why you don't want to talk to me now." He just closed his eyes.

"I don't know what you're talking about." He said quietly. "But please, I'm going to ask you this just once more. Please go home to Sacred Heart. You can tell everyone you saw me and I'm doing fine or you can tell them I'm a bastard who doesn't want them to phone anymore, whatever makes you happy. But please leave. I won't ever ask anymore from you if you just do this."

"Doctor Cox!" I pinched the bridge of my nose. Here he came. Acting like everything was normal only a day after his brother… No, it was his problem, and I was sticking to my resolution not to get involved.

"What is it Newbie?" I growled. As usual, he remained completely unaffected.

"Look, I, uh…I really need to talk to you." I would've ignored it. I would've blown up at him about it. I would've walked away. But he had that 'I'm being completely serious, this is a real issue, not a whiny pathetic little girl crisis'. Or at least that's what I'd started to call it in my head.

"Sure, Hilda, why not?" I folded my arms, holding my clipboard against my chess.

"I'm leaving the hospital." He said so quietly I almost didn't hear him.

"You're… Why?" I demanded.

"I know I've said that I was ashamed of Dan, and that's true. He could do so much more if he just… Anyway, living at home was never really a reason for that. My mom… Well she needs someone to take care of her. She's just… It's not important. The point it that Dan only stayed there so I could go to medical school and do this" he gestured randomly at the hospital around him. "But now…" He trailed off. I was happy, if a little surprised. I would never have to see him again and I was grateful for that, be it because he annoyed the Hell out of me or be it because getting close to me could only destroy him.

"So, why are you here telling me this? Shouldn't you be off letting your boyfriend cry into your shoulder?" He looked away, clearly uncomfortable.

"I haven't told Turk. Or Elliot and Carla. And I'm not going to. This thing with my mom… It's personal. All they have to know is that I need a change.." I shrugged. That was his choice.

"So…why are you here telling me this?"

"I know you don't like me, but I need someone to write a recommendation letter for me, and I hoped…"

"You hoped that I'd do it? Now why on earth would you think I'd do that for you? We've met, right?" He smiled and laughed.

"I'll be out of your hair faster, right?" He sobered. "I won't ever ask anymore from you if you just do this for me. Please?" What the Hell. I'd messed up almost every other time I'd tried to help him. This was the very least I could do.

"Fine. I'll do it."

"Sorry Ginger. You've already pulled that card." I whispered. He rubbed a hand over his face.

"Ok. Stay. Honest to God, I don't care anymore." He straightened up and left the room, shoulder bumping me on the way out.