yeah, so i'm drowning under all my work, and i just barely passed my midterm. lord... but i do give you permission to throw rotten fruit for not updating in, like, months. that's my fault. Really.

Summary: An accident befalls JD, and though all his basic memories like speaking, counting and even his ability as a doctor remains, all but one personal memory is lost, and only Dr. Cox can help him! Will JD ever be able to function properly again? Will he even ever remember who he is? And what's this rivalry between Cox and Turk?

Rating: For this chapter? I don't know, it's a little intense. T maybe. Yeah, that goes for the whole story. You'll like the ending. -grins- I promise.

Regular text.

"Speaking."

Thinking.

(Author's notes within story.)

Chapter Six: Dilemma of the Heart

The very next day, things seemed to be going wrong. JD was shadowing Perry as a precaution when he suddenly stopped and rubbed his head. Now that Perry paused to tell JD to pick up the pace, he noticed that he'd broke out in a cold sweat. Red flags went up in his head.

JD's knuckles whitened as he gripped the chart tight and pushed his forehead into his hand, gritting his teeth against the pain. Perry's voice came distorted and hazy, forcing him to blink and look forward.

"Hey, Newbie, can you hear me in there?" Dr. Cox growled, though his heart had jumped up a few speeds. JD had kept a lid on about his apparently new ability for some reason that had eluded Perry. Maybe this had something to do with JD's odd behavior.

"Yes, Dr. Cox," JD gasped finally, "Loud and clear."

Perry knew trouble when he heard it so he spun around, giving up on trying to finish anything when Newbie was acting like a little girl. "Alright Priscilla, tell me what's going on because if you do another face-plant on my time, I'm not picking you up again."

Willpower being thoroughly beaten, JD began to quiver slightly. "Oh, it's nothing really, just this headache's been getting worse." 'Worse' was an understatement. It felt as if something had sank its claws into his skull and was in the process of ripping it apart. Dr. Cox gave an exasperated rasp and felt the JD's forehead with the back of his hand. Great, a fever, Dr. Cox thought. He's already back out of commission.

"No! I can keep going, really," JD protested, even though he hadn't said anything, but a sway betrayed his words. "Please, trust me."

Perry snorted derisively. "Not when you're in this condition," he said, pulling the clipboard from his hands. "Go sleep in the on-call room. Oh, and try to figure out what's wrong with you, okay? Make my life a little easier."

JD looked a little confused as Perry sped off in the opposite direction because while he'd growled in annoyance, he was sure he'd heard, 'Geez, this kid's gonna give me gray hair if he keeps worrying me like this.' But regardless, JD struggled to make it to the on-call room, brushing past Carla on the way, who simply had to stop him.

"Bambi, you look a little pale," she clucked in that mother hen-ly way of hers, "Are you sick?" JD refused to let her worry like he'd done earlier by revealing the actually severity of what he had now dubbed his super migraine.

"Ah, no, it's nothing, just a bit of a headache," JD soothed instantly, "Dr. Cox said I should sit out for a minute."

Carla's eyes widened in obvious worry and she patted his shoulder as she spoke. "Oh, JD, I told you not to push yourself and now look what you've done? Go sleep and I'll grab you something for that headache."

JD just nodded, hardly able to hear above that horrid buzzing-humming noise in his head, and staggered into the welcoming darkness of the on-call room. He didn't glance at the bed before collapsing heavily with a rough groan. The pain had started the night before as nothing more than a cross-sensation between tingling and whispering in his head but was now building into a massive brain-explosion. When Carla reappeared with ibuprofen, he realized that he wasn't thinking straight at all. He was in a friggen' hospital, he should have just dropped by the nurses' station earlier for a pain killer or something.

But, JD lay shivering in the stiff bed, praying for the bliss of unconsciousness, curled on his side with his jaw clenched. Carla had not seen him assume this position, since he didn't want her to worry, and had waited till the moment after she'd left to twist over and squeeze his head in his hands with a whimper. JD didn't even have time to think about what Dr. Cox would do if he found JD passed out and feverish in the on-call room before that wonderful thing called sleep claimed JD's mind.

It was a half-hour or so later when Perry reappeared, opening the door to find JD trembling on the bed, fever spiked and breaking out in a sweat. Perry struggled between admitting JD into the hospital or taking this as one of the after-affects of his condition from yesterday. Finally, after a small self-conflict, Perry flicked on the light, shut the door and sat at the foot of the newly ill JD's bed.

The movement seemed to spark JD in his hypersensitive state of fever. He glanced up sharply and tried to focus of Perry, nearly panicking at the sudden, severe decrease in his health.

"Dr. Cox?" JD ventured, the sound in his head nearly unbearable. "What are you doing here?"

Perry rolled his eyes. "Just making sure you don't die, Newbie. They said a feverish state could follow what happened yesterday and I'm just making sure that if it you break 103, someone can get you to the emergency room. Now here, take these."

He handed JD a pair of pills to help cool him down and JD was thankful, for the others Carla had given him had worn off already. He mumbled something to Perry before laying back down. Briefly, JD wondered how much more he could take before he started screaming when he finally fell asleep once more.

Within his dream, JD felt warm but not uncomfortably so. He seemed to be laying on a bed because he was sure it was something soft. His senses were fogged at least, and when he cracked his eyes open a bit see, he could barely see past the shadows. JD let his awareness fall again, settling back onto that warmth that he now realized wasn't a bed. Just before he slipped into dreamless sleep, he recognized it from when he'd fallen on the street during the rain and Perry had held him to his chest...

The dreamless sleep didn't last. Soon, thoughts and images flickered past his mind's eye but JD didn't recognize them; they weren't his own. For a moment, Turk's emotions filtered through and he seemed to be at the end of a surgery, limp with disappointment. Then, there was Carla, a thousand thoughts flying through her head at once as she imbedded all the details for each patient into her mind. What did this patient need? Who did she need to call for her? What meds should she be picking up?

After a few more familiar, individual people, there was a painful blur of patient's and doctor's thoughts, emotions and sights that piled on more and more people's thoughts at once. JD squirmed in his sleep, mouth open for breath, mumbling worriedly.

Perry hesitated for a heartbeat, then sat beside JD's head, pulling one leg onto the bed and letting his other hang over the side. JD had curled onto his side on the far edge, shivering, and Perry felt his forehead again. It wasn't high enough for him to be rushed to the ER but if he didn't improve in the next half-hour...

Suddenly, JD rolled over and rested his head against Perry's side, halfway on his ribs and halfway on his stomach, and settled his hand on the older man's knee. Tension rippled over Perry's muscles and Perry fought between gently removing himself and remaining where he sat.

Finally, he relaxed resignedly and looked upward for relief from how uncomfortable he was. Not physically of course. In fact, he kind of liked the situation, but that was the problem. He shouldn't like the situation and that was causing conflict between his logic and his heart. What should I do? he thought in the deepest, darkest corner of his mind, wanting to wail in despair. It won't work, it wouldn't work but why won't my heart stop trying? This is it. This is it. And despite himself, in that dark on-call room, a warm tear escaped his shield and rolled down his weathered cheek, before vanishing into the shadows.

But JD felt it, maybe not on his skin, but he was wide awake when his heart quivered with Perry's thoughts and emotions and he found his own mind reflecting it. It's over? he thought silently as sleep recaptured him. It can't be over...

That was angsty. I'm update again soon, I promise. I really like this story.