He hadn't made it all the way through the shift like he had planned, but he could feel himself giving out. If he didn't get some rest, he would end up on a stretcher himself.
Dr. Cox sighed heavily as he sat down on the cot in the dim on-call room. Why was it that his stress and fatigue and starvation waited till he came to work to catch up to him. Honestly he wouldn't mind passing out while Jordan was torturing him with her venomous words and intentions. At work however, he could not afford to have any ventricular episodes like the one he had just had. First of all, it would look bad for Sacred Heart to have ill employees working at a sub par level. Not that he really cared about Sacred Heart's image. But secondly, all the people who thought that they were close to him would ne-he-hever leave him alone. They'd want to be all close and nurturing and… why was that so bad?
Dr. Cox huffed and flopped down on the cot. He really wanted that muffin now.
The door opened slightly letting a beam of light cut through the darkness of the room. At first, Dr. Cox didn't bother to look up, figuring it was just an on-call doctor coming in for a nap. That is until he heard the sweetest most irritating voice in the world.
"Dr. Cox? Are you in here?"
"No." Dr. Cox growled.
JD slid into the room, shut the door behind him and turned on the light.
"Newbie!" Dr. Cox roared when the lights blinded him and made his head throb. He clamped a hand over his eyes and sat back up.
"Sorry Dr. Cox!" JD said making one of his ridiculous 'oops' faces.
"What the hell do you want, Megan?"
The younger doctor moved forward timidly. He laced his fingers together and bit his lower lip. His mouth opened and closed several times in an attempt to say something but it was obvious to both men that it definately wasn't working.
So Dr. Cox decided to say it for him. "Wait, don't tell me. You know that there's a problem, I look like a wreck, and you want to do something to help. Is that it?"
"Y-yea."
Dr. Cox rested his elbows on his knees and buried his face in his hands. "Look, newbie, there is nothing that you can do. Yes I have a problem. No you can't help."
"Then do something about it!"
The senior doctor was somewhat surprised by this sudden outburst and snapped his head up to look back at JD.
JD continued, "Dr. Cox, if there is a problem then fix it. Do something to help yourself. You look miserable and people are worried about you. I'm worried about you. And it just makes it worse to know that there is in fact a problem and there's nothing I can do about it. So for the sake of the people around you, get help. Talk to a psych, eat something, go home…"
"I can't go home, JD!" Dr. Cox finally erupted, "That's where all this is coming from!" He practically leapt to his feet and approached the younger doctor. "You wanna know my problem, Newbie?! Jordan weaseled her way back into my house with the promise of sex and scotch and then two weeks later I find a positive EPT in her purse. The big problem is, I hadn't done anything that could render me the potential father and here she was in MY HOUSE! She had no intentions of telling me! She was just gunna milk me for the child support! So now I'm throwing her and her unborn bastard child out. But here's the punch line, Newbie! She has suddenly decided to sue me for full custody of Jack! My son! MY SON! Just because she's pissed off at me she is going to take away the boy's father. I'm his FATHER! I practically raised him! I should have a say in this!"
Dr. Cox was going red in the face, a vain on his forehead threatened to burst, the tendons in his neck looked ready to snap. His teeth gleamed as he snarled and continued yelling at JD in what was definitely a blind rage.
"Cox! Calm down! You'll overexert yourself!"
"Don't tell me to fucking calm down! You have no idea what…"
Dr. Cox suddenly lost his breath. His face went very pale and his hand clamped over his chest.
"Dr. Cox! Are you okay?"
His heart was beating so fast it felt like it was going to shatter his ribs. His head was spinning and his body suddenly became weak as a feather. He grabbed onto JD's scrubs as tight he could to keep from collapsing. "Tak – tak…" he couldn't breathe.
"Tak? Tachycardia!?"
The older doctor managed a faint nod.
JD tried to hold up the doctor's dead weight. "Try to bear down! Try and force some coughs. Dr. Cox?"
The older man was no longer responding.
"Dr. Cox! Dammit! I need some help in here!" JD yelled as loud as he could.
Within seconds Dr. Cox heard other voices and saw what looked like more people coming in through the door. But it was hard for him to see through his fading vision and then everything went white. The last thing he was aware of before he passed out was JD's warm arms that held him tight and kept him from hitting the floor.
His body sagged in JD's arms and the young doctor could only watch as his mentor's eyes rolled back before he passed out cold. JD laid him down and pressed two fingers right above the fainted man's corroded artery and was shocked when he felt how fast his heart rate was.
"Dr. Cox!"
Carla and a medic who had been nearby were now at JD's side on the floor. Everyone was working in sync just like they should but everybody knew that this was going on too long. If Dr. Cox's heart rate continued this fast for any small amount of time he could go into cardiac arrest. JD did the only thing there was to do in order to save Dr. Cox in time. He made a fist, drew it back and brought down hard on Dr. Cox's chest.
The crew didn't even pause at the resounding thud that came from the sudden impact. The medic quickly pulled out a bp cuff, put it on the doctor's arm and pumped it up. Carla put her fingers on his corroded. JD waited.
"Blood pressure is coming back up."
"Heart rate is slowing down."
JD let out a big breath that he hadn't even noticed he was holding.
The Todd, who was also close by, came in the room with a stretcher. He parked it next to the crew and came over to them to help lift the patient.
"Come on, JD," Carla said, sounding tired but calm, "help us get him on the stretcher."