What? I'm updating Countdown? Gasp! I thought I might have lost all my fanfic files when my computer broke, but when the nice Comet people FINALLY fixed it, all my files were still floating around. But because I have to use a different version of word to my normal one, don't blame me if something looks weird. Blame word! Hehe. Anyways, enjoy! If you can….. I don't like this chapter much. Huh well. Reviews are love!
Jess xxx
"Good morning Doctor Dorian." Ted said as JD walked past. "Not dead, then?" JD shook his head, and Ted sighed.
"There's always next time." Ted said reassuringly, patting him on the shoulder. He whistled a bit as he walked off. JD stared after him in shock, before looking away and switching his attention to the Latina woman rushing towards him at about a hundred miles an hour.
"JD!" Carla yelled happily, before pulling him into a bone crushing hug. After a few seconds where he almost passed out, he relaxed and hugged Carla back. Which was when she slapped him.
"Ow! What was that for?" He complained, rubbing his cheek.
"For making us worry." She pouted.
"Sorry." He sighed. Turk and Elliot caught sight of him, and ran over too. Elliot collapsed into his arms, sobbing and babbling. Turk just grinned and said "Welcome back, Vanilla Bear."
"Guys!" JD said. "I've only been gone five days!".
"That was five days too many." Turk said. JD went to thank him, but before he could he spotted a familiar head of red curls.
"Dr Cox!" he yelled, running after him. "Doctor Cox, I'm back!" Perry turned and glared at him.
"I can see that, Scarlett. But you've now wasted ten seconds of my time. And those ten seconds were kinda critical, seeing as my next patient is a son of a board member, and if he kicks the bucket any time soon, his mother's going to be wearing my testicles as earrings. Shortly afterwards, I'll be fired, get depressed and kill myself and then my ghost will come back to get revenge on you." He prodded JD in the chest with the last word, before continuing walking.
"What's up with him?" JD asked Carla, confused.
"You breathed?"
"Nah. Normally he rants, but today he just straightaway launched into a really random rant. He only called me one girls name and didn't even insult my ability as a doctor!" Carla shook her head and sighed.
"I don't know, Bambi. Maybe he's just stressed. Now, you'd better get back to work. Otherwise you're gonna get lynched by the doctors who covered your patients." She looked down at the charts in her hand. "Wait, no. Doctor."
"What?"
"Seems that one Perry Cox took all of your patients for you, on top of his. No wonder he's stressed." She handed the charts to him, and wandered off to find Turk.
Perry leant against the wall, trying to resist the urge to smash his head against it. What was wrong with the damn board member? He couldn't think of anything else, he'd ruled out everything he could have thought of. He was contemplating running away when a familiar brunette peered round the door.
"This had better be good, Hannah." He growled.
"It is!" JD beamed. "I've come to help with your patient!" Perry blinked and shook his head, as if to clear it.
"I'm sorry, but how exactly is this good news?" JD ignored him- often the best way to deal with Doctor Cox- and snatched the chart out of Perry's hands.
"Let's see…… " Perry growled, but JD ignored him. "Male, 60 year old smoker. Urine darker than usual, been losing weight, constipation and high blood pressure….." JD stopped talking and his eyes clouded over.
"What?" Perry asked gruffly.
"I- I- be right back!" JD blurted. The chart hit the floor as he bolted towards the toilets.
JD sat inside the cubical, trying to keep his breathing steady.
Okay, don't panic. The voice of reason in his head soothed him. There are other diseases that have those symptoms. It doesn't have to be cancer. He took a deep breath and stood up. Shakily, he hurried back to where Doctor Cox was standing.
"And what was that about, Newbie?"
"Oh……. Nothing." JD lied. "But I think I might have fi-figured your patient out."
"Really? What is it then, Jennifer?"
"Well, let's see…. Constipation, high blood pressure, temporary visual problems…. I think it all adds up to re-" He gulped, then took a deep breath and said "Renal cell carcinoma." Perry looked blank for a minute, but then his face lit up.
"Of course! I'll go and tell him what I figured out he might have, and run a few tests to check. I am a genius for figuring this one out! And all by myself!" JD went to correct him, but Perry was already striding triumphantly through the patients door. JD sighed and shook his head, before walking away. If the guy did have this disease, he didn't want to get too attached.
The diagnosis had been correct, and after a surgical consult the man had decided on having an operation. About a week or so later, Perry sat down, tray hitting the table with a loud thud.
"Dr Cox, why are you eating lunch with us?" Elliot asked.
"Shuttup Barbie." He growled. There was a moment or two of silence, before Carla reached out a hand and placed it gently on his arm.
"What happened?"
"You know my kidney cancer patient?" Carla nodded, not seeing JD wince behind her as Dr Cox spoke. "We lost him in surgery."
A chair scraped back and JD leapt to his feet. "I've gotta go, sorry. Gotta….. Um, go meet someone." He quickly sprinted out of the room. Carla looked back to Dr Cox.
"That was weird." She commented.
"Yeh….. it was. He did that when he figured out what the patient had, as well."
"Have any patients close to him died of cancer or kidney diseases recently?" Dr Cox shook his head.
"No. An old man died a few weeks ago, but that was heart disease."
"Wonder what's up with him then." Carla commented, sipping her coffee.
"Won't be anything big, Carla. It never is at Sacred Heart."
The irony of Dr Cox's last comment was, that at that point in time, there was nothing big at Sacred Heart. As soon as JD had got the chance, he had gotten to the bus to the other side of town and gone straight into St Giles.
"Do you have an appointment, sir?" The woman at reception asked sweetly.
"No…. but me and the doctor are close. She'll understand." JD said, running his hands through his hair.
"Close or not, this is a hospital and there are patients that need seeing."
"Look, is she on lunch break?"
"Sir-"
"Just tell me if Dr Roberts is on lunch break. If she is, then I'll see her. If she isn't, I won't bother her." The receptionist was weakening.
"Look, doctor's need breaks too."
"Yeh, we do. Look, scrubs." He said, pulling at his blue top. "Now, is Dr Roberts on lunch break?"
"Yes." The receptionist said, giving in.
"Thank you!" JD said, jogging off to find her. He tried the canteen first, but she wasn't there. The corridors were the same. He'd just about given up when a voice yelled "Hey! JD!"
He turned around to see a blonde woman grinning at him. For a few seconds, he had no idea who she was. Then he clocked her green eyes and slim face and realised who it was.
"Dr Roberts! I'm so sorry, I didn't realise…. You know, with your….. Hair." He gestured weakly to his own head, feeling awkward.
"No problem. I dyed it red for a while, but I fancied a change. This is my normal hair colour."
"Oh…." he said, unsurely. "It's, um, very nice."
Dr Roberts laughed, and patted the seat next to her. JD sat down.
"So, Dr Roberts-" he began.
"I'm not working right now, so call me Clarice."
"Okay, um, Clarice." The word felt foreign and awkward on his tongue, but Dr Roberts beamed at it.
"So what's on your mind, JD?" The whole story of the cancer patient came blurting out before he could even think, and Dr Roberts listened patiently.
"So the patient died?" JD nodded, his eyes welling up. He quickly blinked the tears away.
"So now you're really against having the surgery." He nodded again. She sighed. "JD…."
"I know what you're gonna say." He interrupted. "That the surgery going wrong was a one in million chance. That it probably would never happen to me, and my fears are all pointless and unrealistic. You're gonna recommend I go back to the shrink, and be asked to talk about my dreams and look at pictures of inkblots- which, by the way, never look like anything except for fucking blots of ink- so that I can get shoved on twelve years worth of medication to make me 'normal'. Aren't you?"
Dr Roberts blinked. "Actually, I was just gonna ask if you wanted half of my sandwich. But that's good too."
"Thanks for coming" Carla said, opening the door and hugging Elliot tight. "I just don't know what to do."
"I'm worried too." Elliot said, hanging her coat up and shaking some of the rain from her hair.
"I'm not. I think you guys are being dumb." Turk said from his seat on the sofa. The women ignored him
"Do you think anyone else is gonna turn up?" Carla asked Elliot.
"I don't know. Who did you ask?""Um….. You guys….."
"Who else?"
"Dr Cox…."
Elliot snorted. "Good luck with that."
"Laverne….."
"Probably will come, but only for the gossip."
"The Todd……"
"Oh Carla, you didn't!"
"And Ted and Kelso."
"Ted might come if you're lucky."
"Give him ten minutes." Turk suggested from the sofa.
"Okay" Carla said, still uncertain. Ten minutes later, Ted and Todd had turned up.
"Guess that's it." Carla said sadly.
"You didn't really expect Kelso or Cox to turn up, did you?" Turk snorted.
"Not really….. But it would have been nice… huh well." Carla stood up, and held up her hand for silence.
"It's like a courtroom in here." Turk began to whisper, before remembering JD wasn't there. He frowned, missing his Vanilla Bear. Then he looked up as Carla began to talk.
"Okay, thanks for coming everyone…."
"I just came in case there was an off chance of an orgy." Todd offered, raising his hand.
"It's really nice of you." Carla said, blanking him. "We need all the help we can on this one. We have to figure out why JD's acting so weird."
JD, at this point in time, was buying himself a chocolate bar from the hospital gift shop. He wondered whether, as a cancer sufferer, he should be watching his diet. He decided against it, and handed the man the money, peeling the wrapper away from the bar.
"You ready to go?" Dr Roberts asked.
"Go where?" JD asked curiously, stuffing the change and receipt into his pocket.
"I dunno. Just…. Walk around, I guess."
"Okay." He said, happily following her.
"For the love of god!" Turk burst out, sitting upright. "There's nothing wrong with him!"
"Turk, are you blind or just an idiot?" Elliot yelled back.
"Elliot's right!" Carla said. "First he misses five days of work, with no explanation."
"He was probably just ill." Turk sighed.
"Then why didn't he say so?" Carla snapped at him. Turk had no answer for that, and decided to quit while he was very far behind.
"So, first five days off work." Carla continued. "Then he comes back with no reasons. When he diagnosed the patient, he ran off. And then when he learnt he'd died, he ran off and we haven't seen him since. Any ideas?"
JD and Doctor Roberts were in the park when her pager beeped.
"Crap!" she yelled, causing several old ladies to turn and glare at them. "I'm so sorry, JD, but this one's an emergency."
"That's okay." He told her. "I'll be fine."
"Really?" She checked, chewing her lip nervously.
"Of course! Now go, okay?"
"Okay." She grinned, before turning and sprinting in the direction of the hospital. JD's smile dropped the second she was out of sight. He sighed, and wandered over the playground, watching the kids have fun.
Two blonde boys whizzed round and round on the roundabout, going faster and faster all the time JD watched them.
He turned his attention to the three on the climbing frame: the two brunette girls racing up the ladders to drop down the slides, and the redheaded boy trying to reach the end of the monkey bars, falling every time.
And then he changed to watching the last kid. The small brunette boy was the only one on the swings, caught up in a world of his own. He pushed himself higher and higher, eyes closed tight, a brilliant smile on his face. JD smiled softly, an echo of the boy's huge grin.
"Did he know the patient well?" Elliot asked.
"I don't think so…."
"Cuz he might have been with them for the days he was gone." Carla shook her head.
"I don't think so……" She said again.
"Maybe he turned gay." Todd piped up.
"Shuddup Todd." The whole room told him.
"Maybe he's……." Ted began.
"What, Ted?" Elliot asked.
"What was wrong with the patient that died?"
"Kidney cancer." Carla said, straight away. Nurses had to know these things.
"Maybe……. Dr Dorian……. Has…… kidney can-" He never got any further than that.
"Don't be stupid, Ted." Turk hissed.
"Yeh." Elliot agreed. "Just because JD's acting weird, doesn't mean he's that ill."
"I mean, we're his best friends. He'd tell us if there was something like that going on……….. Wouldn't he?"
"Turned perverted there, Nancy?" A voice came as JD watched the children playing. "You know, you can get arrested for that."
"What, for watching little kids have fun?" He answered dully.
"Yup," Dr Cox said, walking down to where JD was. "Looks very suspicious to the person walking by."
"Yeh, yeh, I'm sure." JD muttered.
"What's wrong with you?" Dr Cox asked, turning JD to face him. Upon seeing his pale face, Dr Cox got angry.
"Prucilla! You are a doctor, for god's sakes! Would you please, PLEASE try to act like one? And by that I mean not starving yourself to death! When was the last time you ate?"
"I had a chocolate bar at lunch." He mumbled. It wasn't entirely untrue, he had eaten half of it after all.
"That's it? Come on, you're getting coffee."
"But I don't want-" JD stopped as a strong hand grabbed his scrubs and dragged him away. JD sat moodily at a table as Dr Cox chatted up the nurses. Eventually, the man slammed a tray down onto the table. It held a large coffee, a chocolate muffin and a pack of biscuits.
"Eat, Deloris." Dr Cox said, leaning back in his chair. JD quietly obliged, slurping the coffee down and feeling surprised at how better he felt afterwards. He was still eating when Dr Cox spoke up again.
"Oh, by the way- you owe me eight dollars."
"Wha?" JD said, his mouth full of muffin.
"For god's sakes Clarabelle, swallow before you speak! Did your mother not teach you any manners at all?" JD swallowed obediently, before repeating his question.
"What?"
"That lot was eight dollars. Money, please."
"So much for a gesture of goodwill." JD murmured under his breath, before throwing the change onto the table and storming off.
"What a girl." Dr Cox said to no one, leaning forward to pick up the money. He counted it out, happy to see Newbie hadn't ripped him off. Then he frowned. He picked up the piece of paper lying next to the dollar bills, and frowned again. It was a receipt. Scanning through it, he saw that it was for one chocolate bar….. From St Giles hospital gift shop? Why would Newbie go there?
JD sat at home, all the lights in his room turned off. Sobs racked his body as he lay curled up on the bed.
"What the hell do I do now?" He asked nobody. And when nobody replied, he just started sobbing again.