Wow! I really can't believe it! 110 reviews! Sorry about keeping you waiting so long for this chapter. I've just been swamped lately and to be honest I lost my inspiration for a while... I'm not quite sure if it's back yet but we'll see how we go!
If you are reading please review! It's the reviews that really keep me writing! It would be so awesome if everyone on the alerts list made a comment :D I'll give you a cookie... Anyway, I'll shut up now. Thanks everyone!! I love you all :P
This chapter has been edited because bree1387 pointed out that Turk would need insulin if he was hyperglycemic not hypoglycemic. Thanks for noticing, lol, some nursing student I make! He is supposed to be hyperglycemic because of the sugar in his coffee! Sorry for the mistake, was about 4am when I wrote this chapter :D
He must have been out cold now for damn near 20 minutes. In my experience as a doctor, that's quite a long time. That blow to the temple could have killed him. Hell, if I couldn't see his chest rising and falling slightly I would be convinced he was dead. But still, he shouldn't be unconscious for this long. I can tell Ghandi and Carla are also starting to think along the same lines. Taking a casual glance in their direction I notice that Ghandi is starting to get anxious and Carla is trying to catch my eye, no doubt to have an unspoken conversation. I turn away, trying not to care too much... it's not my job to care. It's my job to to dole out the speeches and tell the kid what a mess he is until he sorts himself out... never to care.
For some reason though, I find my thoughts moving away from the unmoving body on the floor. Something is nagging at me, something's not right... I just have to look at Ghandi again.
Dr. Cox looked to Turk. His brows furrowed when he took in his appearance. His scrubs top was soaked with sweat, beads were running down his face. Even though he was sitting down, it was obvious he was unsteady and could not control the shaking in his limbs. At first Dr. Cox thought it was just the stress of what's been happening and it was Turk's way of showing his anger. But then another thought entered his mind.
Hyperglycemia! He's diabetic! Oh God. How could I have forgotten? How long has he been like this for?! I turned my gaze towards Carla who seemed to have been watching me for however long I was staring at her husband. I nod towards Ghandi to try to get her to look at him but she already seems to know what I'm saying. A moment of understanding passes between us and we both know that one of us is going to have to speak up if we want Ghandi to actually live through this. I try to roll my damn gag up with my shoulder finding myself slightly intrigued as to how a small piece of cloth can cause me so much hassle.
"Hey," Looks like I've been beaten to it. "Hey..." There was no response. "OI!" Carla was starting to get agitated and slightly annoyed, she didn't like being ignored, especially when her husband's life was at stake. "Look, Tur- my husband's really ill. He has diabetes, he needs his insulin. Please!"
At this Dave turned to look at Carla with an odd glint in his eye.
"Diabetes?"
"Yes! Diabetes! He needs his insulin! Look at him.." I could see the relief washing over Carla's face when the bastard finally decided to acknowledge her. But she was obviously frustrated that he didn't seem to have the same sense of urgency that she did. I don't know what she was expecting. His priorities are obviously very different to any of ours.
"My father had diabetes."
Turk was now beginning to fall forwards pulling on the cuffs around his wrists. He was starting to become disorientated. Carla tried her best not to shout at the man on the couch for wasting time and settled for gritting her teeth instead. It was time to put her nursing conversation skills into practice outside the hospital.
"He did? Did he have type two?" She asked, to Cox's surprise with seemingly mild interest.
"Yeah." Dave was no longer looking at Carla but now staring down at JD who, to the relief of his friends shifted a little. A light moan escaped his lips. "He was a good man, my father... I'm nothing like him really. He was patient, loyal, brave, caring... all the things I'm not. We both knew I was nothing like him, I was always a disappointment..."
Carla bit her lip slightly, this was not what she had been expecting. A gun to the face, maybe. But a heart to heart about the man's childhood and feelings, not in a million years. Her husband was sat beside her slowly drifting into unconsciousness and she was sat there listening to some nutter pouring his heart out. It made no sense. But none of it did. The only way he is ever going to give in, is if he trusts her. And to get that, she has to be patient. No matter how frustrating and infuriating it was to listen to.
"...All my life I have felt like crap. The only thing that has ever made me feel good is that kid..."
Cox and Carla both looked at each other panicking somewhat. They were not comfortable with this.
"When I first met him we would chat for hours. He was a bright kid but had little or no common sense."
Cox found himself breaking into a small smile, he knew that was true. Suddenly he realised he was smiling and quickly returned to his stoic composure. Dave was now kneeling next to JD stroking his fingers through his hair, much like he had earlier. But this time his face was filled more with sadness than any kind of lust.
"After a while, I realised that Johnny and I were very much alike... but also so different. He was me as I should have been, as my Dad would have wanted me to be. He had my qualities, and so many more... Once I realised that, I started to resent him... I couldn't help it, he was so easy to manipulate and control. He would do anything to please."
Dr. Cox found himself staring at the floor. He couldn't listen to this. JD was supposed to be his punch bag. Metaphorically, of course. But that was okay, because he never really took him seriously.. right?
"I admit, I took advantage of that... There was something about him that made me feel... powerful." Dave was still stroking JD's hair, but the sadness in his eyes had been replaced with a glimmer of satisfaction as he obviously thought back to his past experiences with the intern. "I controlled every aspect of his life, and he still loved me unconditionally. Even when I nearly broke his jaw just after his 12th birthday." He started laughing slightly. "I told him his dad had told me to do it... and that I really hadn't wanted to. I told him I loved him, and he spent most of that night crying in my arms..."
I looked over to Carla finding her with her eyes closed and silent tears slipping down her face. Can't that damn woman ever stop crying?
Dr. Cox looked up to the ceiling to stop his eyes from watering. Suddenly, a louder moan came from JD and his legs shifted. He was starting to wake up.
Dave quickly reached down to grab the back of JD's head pulling him up to a sitting position. He knelt behind him holding up his back and put his right arm around his neck. JD's head rolled forwards as he tried to regain consciousness. The abrupt movement had made him dizzy and somewhat nauseous.
All of a sudden the memories came flooding back to him and a moment of clarity hit him. Jerking up his head he found himself staring at about three Carlas. Two seemed to be floating around a much steadier one in the middle. He tried to focus on the middle one which, eventually cleared his vision. Unfortunately though, he could see her mouth moving but couldn't make out any of the words. He could also feel the warmth of another person behind him. Trying to piece his memories together, he came to only one conclusion. That person behind him was Dave.
Suddenly, he froze.
"JD! Are you okay? Talk to me!"
He looked like a deer in the headlights. Not knowing what to do. Then, he realised there was an arm around his neck. He tried to lean back to release some of the grip. To his surprise the arm moved and he felt Dave shifting away from his back. All of a sudden he was pulled up onto the couch. Every part of his body was pounding. The worst pain was in his ribs. Even the slightest shifting made him feel like he was being stabbed with about forty knives. He also had a dull throbbing pain in his head and could feel the crusting of dried blood under his nose and around his mouth. After mentally assessing himself and coming to the conclusion that the worst he had was a cracked rib or two he found the capacity to actually listen to what the people around him were saying.
"Is he okay??!!!... No he's not okay!!... Does he look okay to you??!! I just told you.. he has diabetes! He will die without his insulin!"
A calm reply answered the frustrated female ranting.
"Well, what do you expect me to do?"
Carla became much quieter now. Realising that shouting at the man was not going to work.
"Just let me give him his injection... please?"
Dave seemed to weigh up his options.
"Where is it?"
"We keep it in the fridge."
"Right, I will do it."
"No! You could snap the needle if you don't do it right! Please, let me do it."
By this time, Dave was at the fridge. He looked at Carla, then to Turk. Then back at Carla again. Taking the insulin out of the fridge, he took a deep breath.
"No, I can't take that risk."
Carla's heart sank. It took time to learn how to inject someone properly, she didn't want him to hurt her husband. But also deep down, she knew she would have taken that opportunity to try and escape . Or at least injure the guy enough to try and get away.
"Please..."
Suddenly Dave took hold of JD's hair. JD jumped, shocked at the quick movement. Nothing that had been going on had quite sunk in yet, and he was abruptly jerked back from limbo. Pushing hard, he threw JD to the floor and took out his gun. Pointing it at Carla, he calmly told her to be quiet or else he would shoot her and promptly started kicking JD in the ribs again causing him to yelp. Eventually he heard something crack, then he stopped kicking. Now his ribs were broken.
JD could hardly breathe, his chest rattled as he tried his hardest to breathe in enough air to keep himself going. The pain was unbearable and his head swam as waves of nausea threatened to overwhelm him.
Kneeling over the writhing body, Dave leaned down and kissed JD on the cheek.
"I love you you know Johnny. Now be good boy and give your friend over there his insulin injection."
Carla and Dr. Cox looked up at the madman in shock and he placed the syringe into the young doctor's palm.
Gathering all the strength he could muster, JD managed to breathe out a word.
"...What?..."
The strain on his injured chest was too much and he began to cough. However, this only served to make the original pain much worse. He felt slight relief when Dave turned him onto his back allowing him to breathe a little easier. But unfortunately, this brought the two face to face. Grabbing JD's chin, the man pulled his face close so his own so he could look into the younger man's eyes. JD tried to squirm away, but again the pain limited his movements.
"STOP SQUIRMING AND LOOK AT ME!" JD automatically froze. Calmly Dave continued. "You are a doctor, yes?..." Getting no response, he repeated. "Yes?!" JD frantically nodded his head. "Then as a doctor I would imagine you would know what to do with insulin, right?" JD again nodded. "Okay, well your black friend over there apparently needs his insulin. And seeing as you're a doctor and you know what to do, I was thinkin' you could give it to him. Okay?"
Kissing JD quickly on the lips he pulled him up by the collar of his scrubs and dragged him closer to his friend. JD gritted his teeth and hissed as the sharp pain in his ribs returned and he was thrown back onto his stomach.
Dave moved towards Carla and grabbed her by the hair. He pulled her as close to him as he possibly could.
"And you dare speak to me like that again, or make that much noise, it'll be the last thing you ever do. Comprende?"
Carla's shocked eyes quickly narrowed as the man obviously mocked her with her native language. The man then looked away from her and towards her gag, focusing on getting it back across her mouth. At first, Carla planned to make it as difficult as possible for the man to do, but upon noticing the gun in his right pocket she decided against it.
Dave then turned his attentions back to JD who was lay unmoving over his best friend's legs. Not sure if he was still conscious the man nudged the young doctor none too gently with his foot. JD once again let out a moan as the foot dug into his injured ribs.
"Get on with it! We haven't got all day."
JD's shaky hands tried to push against the floor so he could raise his body up slightly but he didn't have the strength to support his weight. Another pain shot up through his body. His breathing was ragged and unsteady and his hands were shaking uncontrollably. If he managed to inject his best friend properly, it would be a miracle.
Getting the needle onto the syringe was the toughest job. Every time he had both hands working in co-ordination, one would spasm and completely miss it's target. Each time he missed, he took another deep breath and tried again. His head pounded and was starting to feel heavy, when he finally got the needle onto the syringe, he dropped his head on Turk's knee and with his right hand carefully injected him in the thigh. After he was done, his body gave in and became lax. A feeling of satisfaction and achievement washed over him as he thought about the fact that he had probably just saved his friend's life.
However, that was short lived as once again, he felt the strong hands of his tormentor on him. Pulling at him, dragging him away from his friend.
"I don't want you getting too comfortable there." He started laughing as the now familiar rib pain crippled JD. "You belong to me, if I wanted to pimp you out to black surgeons, believe me, I would."
Dave turned to look at Dr. Cox as he heard a muffled growl from the corner of the room.
Yeah, you bastard. You glare at me all you want. You can't just say something like that and expect no reaction. Is that all that Newbie is worth to you?!!! I swear, I will kill you.
"Oh, look at this Johnny... We have someone who's jealous here."
I glare towards this nutter who now has Newbie around the shoulders and has forced him to stand up. The poor kid looks as if he's gonna fall apart any second. Every move is making him to wince. I hope this guy's not going where I think he's going with this conversation.
"Well don't worry Dr. Cox. I only said black surgeons... nothing about middle-aged doctors."
Grabbing JD by the back of the head again, Dave pushed him down so that the side of his face was buried deep into Dr. Cox's leg. Cox jumped slightly, startled by the sudden movement. He could feel the intern's hot panicked breath against his leg. Both knew that Dave had narrowly missed his original target.
Both JD and Dr. Cox were bright red with humiliation as Dave tried to move JD's face closer to Cox's groin. A cry of pain escaped the young man's lips and he was quickly pulled away.
"Look at him." JD was now kneeling with his back to Dave, his face trapped between the man's giant hands. His own hands wrapped around his battered rib cage. JD averted his gaze from his mentor.
"LOOK AT EACH OTHER, DAMN IT!" JD was shaken hard. Unshod tears escaped his eyes. He shuddered as he took in a deep breath and raised his gaze to meet Cox's. Both men looked as though they wanted to crawl under a huge rock and never speak of what just happened again.
Dave laughed.
"I take it you don't want a go then doctor?" Dave playfully messed up JD's hair then returned his hand back to holding his face. "I don't really blame you. I mean, We've tried this before. Unfortunately, the little brat wouldn't behave himself so the guy didn't pay up. Then word gets round, then no-one wants to know."
At first JD had drawn his gaze away from Dr. Cox who was currently looking midway between shocked and saddened, then he tried to turn his head up towards Dave seemingly in protest.
In a broken voice JD managed to assemble some words.
"Hey! That's not true! That guy beat the crap out of me."
"Yes, because you wouldn't behave!"
"No! I did nothing."
Snapping his head back, JD gasped as he realised what he had just said.
Dave once again laughed.
"Well, that's not something I would have admitted in front of my friends. You did nothing? No Johnny... you are nothing. No-one's gonna want to touch you after this. You're disgusting. You can't tell me you didn't know I was lying about your father wanting me to do all of that stuff. To keep the family going? God, you were stupid, a blind man would have seen through that."
"I was young, I didn't know..." JD could hardly breathe. Tears were running freely down his face.
"Okay, well you do now! And what exactly are you doing about it?... Nothing! Don't give me all that 'I'm so innocent crap'. You came to me Johnny, you came to me for the love. Not your father!... Now kiss him.."
The words didn't quite register with JD for a moment, then he realised what had been said. He didn't really understand it.
"..W-what?"
"Kiss him." JD found himself being pushed once again in the direction of Dr. Cox.
Carla turned to the three men shocked at what Dave was suggesting.
Dr. Cox's eyes widened beyond belief, he moved as far back into the wall as he could manage but he could not escape the fact that his intern was having his face slowly pushed towards his own.
All of a sudden, Dr. Cox felt the now familiar the sensation of cold metal being pressed against his temple again.
"Kiss him, or he dies. Your choice Johnny."
Up until that point JD had been trying his hardest to turn his face away from his mentor. But faced with a decision which meant certain embarrassment or certain death he knew which option he had to go for.
JD allowed his mouth to be directed towards Dr. Cox. He was going to kiss him to save his life, but he sure as hell wasn't going to initiate it without a little help.
Dave forcefully shoved JD onto Cox, who even through his gag held his lips tightly shut. JD's mouth finally reached Dr. Cox's and after much humiliation, he gently kissed him.
Dave laughed once again, especially at the sickened expression on Cox's face.
"Good boy Johnny. Ha, that's five bucks buddy." Getting no response from the older doctor he smiled. "Just kiddin'" He removed the gun from the side of Cox's head then got JD in another headlock. "Now you must excuse us, we have some business to attend to in the bedroom." JD screamed in pain as his ribs were jolted into a hideously uncomfortable angle and he was forced to stand up. Dr. Cox winced, scarcely realising what Dave had said. He only took notice when JD was dragged towards his bedroom, then he began pulling away from the wall and trying to yell insults through his gag. But it was too late. The door was shut and the muffled sounds of a small struggle could be heard through the door, shortly followed by uncontrollable sobs. Then nothing.
We've heard nothing for half an hour, nothing but the odd bump against the wall or the odd moan coming from inside Newbie's bedroom. It is his bedroom, but I very much doubt he'll ever sleep in there again. It's amazing and terrifying how many things can change in such a short period.
This morning I just thought that Newbie was a quirky young doctor who loved to irritate me from time to time because he enjoyed being around me and respected me. Now he's some child abuse victim who is quirky because he doesn't really know how to behave normally around people. He follows me around because he's never really had a stable male influence in his life and he hopes he can find that in me.
This morning, Ghandi was fit and healthy with not a care in the world, and now he's fighting for his life and has lost his father.
This morning, Carla and I would have taken on the world under any circumstances and in any situation, yet now, here we are sat in silence too tired to do or say anything any more. Both resigned to the fact that, chances are, none of us will survive this.
Now everything is different. Hell, if we do get out of here alive, it will be impossible to return back to normal. I can't pretend that I will look at Newbie in the same way as I have always done. I can't. Everything he does I know damn fine I will be assessing and looking for a reason behind it. The kid will never be the same. He's got through all of this once in his life, can a person come back twice? I'm not sure they can. Good God, he's having Christ knows what done to him in there, who says there even is a coming come back? He could be dead right now. The pain he must be feeling-
KNOCK KNOCK
Carla and I jump in shock and then look to each other, adrenaline suddenly rushing through our bodies. We don't know what to do! What the hell can we do??!! All we know is there's someone at the door!