Hey everyone! This is it for My So-Called Afterlife. I don't have a title yet for the next fic, so just keep an eye out.

Lawyers: Our client does not own Scrubs or Dead Like Me, nor is she gaining any profit by writing this story. Don't sue her.

Chapter 22 Epilogue

JD's POV

When I told Turk and Carla the news about my moving out, they acted both sad and a bit happy. Carla was getting to be pretty far along now in her pregnancy, so I suppose they were going to eventually tell me that I had to move out. I already hired a building contractor to get my house all set and built on my plot of land, but in the meantime, I had to stay someplace else until everything was complete. I declined Turk and Carla's offer to let me stay until things were finished because I couldn't be sure how long it would take for my place to be built.

Luckily, one of my recent reaps lived alone at a small apartment and said it was fine if I crashed there for a while. I might have to pay rent for a couple months, but I had enough left over from the life insurance money to cover it if I couldn't with my paychecks.

Carrying a box of some of my things up the stairs, I fumbled with the keys to the apartment door. I was only moving some of the essentials right now. Turk would be by later to help me move the rest.

With one arm wrapped around the box, I slid the key into the lock with my free hand and opened the door to my temporary abode. Pushing the door open, I found myself face to face with a smirking janitor and the barrel of a gun.

BAM!

Dammit, right in the face again!

I fell backwards and hit the wall behind me, the box falling from my arms and hitting the ground with a thunk. I could faintly hear something breaking in it too.

The Janitor just stood there with a triumphant grin and blew at the barrel of his gun like some sort of stupid cowboy. I stayed on the ground, slumped against the wall, and glared at him with my one working eye while waiting for the other eye and the rest of my face to repair itself.

"Bet you didn't see that coming," he said, all cocky over catching me off guard.

"That's not fair," I finally managed to say. "You already got me. I never said you could shoot me twice."

"You never said only once," the Janitor automatically said.

He got me there. I would think something like that is implied. Damn him and his loopholes.

Looking a bit confused, he asked, "Wait, what do you mean 'twice?'"

"Don't play stupid," I hissed, wiping the blood off my healed face with my sleeve. "You already shot me once before." Looking over my shoulder at the blood spatters on the wall, I said, "You better hope that comes out."

"Soap, water, and bleach. If that doesn't work, paint over it," he said simply. "And I didn't shoot you before. Your mind-tricks won't work on me."

"In the locker," I reminded him. "You rigged it to shoot me when I opened it."

"That's brilliant!" he said with one of those 'torture JD' glints in his eye. "Wish I had thought of it."

So that wasn't him? ...No, it had to be him! I refuse to believe otherwise. He's just trying to mess with me like he always does.

"I don't have time for this," I said, picking up my box and pushing past him. I set the box down inside before turning back to the Janitor and asking, "Hey, how'd you get in?"

"Up the fire escape and through the window," he said.

With a fake smile, I said, "I'll be sure to lock that then."

Then I pushed him out the front door, or at least I tried to. The man was like a mountain.

Getting the hint, the Janitor walked out the front door, but not before giving me a threatening look and saying, "I'm watching you."

I closed the door behind him with a sigh. It never ends.

Perry's POV

It's been a couple weeks since those two reaps I messed up on. Since then, I've taken care of every reap I've been assigned, and on time too. I didn't need a repeat of what happened to those two people. The money Dan used to pay for the hotel room ran out, and so, at Newbie's suggestion, I've taken to camping out at the homes of my reaps that lived lonely, secluded lives. Whenever the landlord came around looking for rent, I'd move on to the next apartment or house. There's no point in spending my drinking game winnings on some dump.

All of the papers for my medical degree and license have yet to come in, so for now I'm stuck doing side-jobs and swindling people out of their money.

I also got a bike. Not like Newbie's nerdy scooter, just a regular bicycle. That way, I would only have to ride public transportation when absolutely necessary. I'll get a car eventually, I just need to wait until I have a better income than drinking games.

Jordan and my sister have recently gotten around to getting a gravestone put up over my grave. I was going to see it today and Newbie was tagging along. I don't know why I was going to see it. Maybe it was some morbid form of closure.

I took a cab to the cemetery because it was too far to travel by bike. Not knowing how long I'd be, I paid the driver so he could leave. No use in running up the meter. I could always call another cab when I was ready to go.

Newbie was already there. He stood waiting by the front entrance with his scooter parked next to him. Mentally sighing, I walked over to him, giving a nod in greeting.

He held up a six-pack of beer with a small smile, saying, "It seemed fitting for the occasion."

We made our way across the green grass of the cemetery. It was actually a nice day out. The sun was out and the sky was clear. Any wind was more cooling than it was uncomfortable.

Finally we reached my gravesite and jutting out of the ground was a slab of black, polished marble. The engravings looked almost silver against it.

In Memory of
Percival Cox
Father - Brother - Ex-Husband
1962 ----- 2007

Underneath the date of my birth and death was a snake wrapped around a staff; the symbol for someone in the medical profession. That symbol and the 'ex-husband' bit made me smile a little.

To my left, I could hear Newbie opening two beer bottles. He held one out to me and I took it, not looking away from the gravestone.

"It's a nice gravestone," he said, gesturing to it with his bottle.

"Yeah, Newbie," I said. "It is."

1925: In a lab dedicated to the discovery of a cure for Yersinia pestis.

Steve McDouglas was sterilizing beakers when he heard his boss swear loudly.

"Is there a problem, Sir?" he asked., setting the beakers aside and approaching his boss.

"No, no problem aside from the usual," his boss said with a heavy sigh. He looked into the high-powered microscope again, examining a sample in the Petri dish.

"Sample 37B had a negative reaction to treatment 4G," he explained. "It appears to have mutated the virus" Sliding his chair away from the table, he stood up with another sigh. "Dispose of the sample for me, McDouglas, I'm going to go have lunch."

As Steve's boss walked away to go clean up, he mumbled to himself, "I thought I was getting close."

As soon as his boss was gone, Steve sat in his place and looked at the sample through the microscope himself.

"Interesting," he muttered outloud.

Grabbing the Petri dish out from under the microscope, he held it in his hand and just stared at it for a moment. The virus had mutated and if anything, it looked to be even more destructive. Steve looked from the Petri dish to the documentation on the sample sitting on the table.

Grabbing the documentation off the table, Steve went to go makes copies of the papers. Afterwards, instead of destroying the sample, he hid it in the fridge where he could retrieve it later when he left. One never knows, it might just come in handy in the future.

Bum, bum, BUM! That's all for My So-Called Afterlife (insert end credits here). A lot of you pretty much guessed this scenario though, but don't be so quick to judge.

I would like to thank all of my wonderful readers and reviewers! You guys rock!

Stay tuned for the next fic :)