Yes, it's time for the annual update. I was choosing options for my GSCEs at school, so I've been busy. But I conjured up a filler chapter for you! Sorry. I promise more will happen in the next one, which I am working on. I appear to have lost my little notebook I kept on the series, so it might tail off a bit. Or a lot. Bah, whenever I write Countdown, I always worry that it's not as good as the last one. Oh, and one last thing-
I would like to remind everybody that this is Slash and it is staying Slash. Anyways, on with the fic and I hope you like it!
'Seven Things In My Room.'
It sounded like an essay title. In a few seconds, JD was 14 again, and stuck with writing 2000 words on "What family means to me". He shook that rather nasty memory away, and returned to the present world- staring at a sheet of lined paper, empty except for that title and the numbers 1 to 7.
Dr Jones was definitely a freak, JD decided. First 10 regrets, then 7 things in his room?
"To make you consider what's precious, and why." The psychiatrist had said.
How was that going to help? JD didn't know, but out of boredom, he had decided to try and do the list.
He looked around. There had to be something, right?
The first thing he saw was his wallet. He'd been out to buy a newspaper, a stupid habit he'd gotten into. He liked checking it for medical updates. All he ever got was a list of food he shouldn't eat to avoid cancer, but was a bit late for that. Plus it changed every week, often contradicting itself. Red wine is bad, it's good, don't eat meat, eat meat… JD had stopped trusting newspapers a while ago.
There wasn't much money left in the wallet. There'd stop being money altogether if he didn't start working. That scared him a little. When… if he became to unwell to work, what would happen? Dan could hardly support him. He let his thoughts wander towards Turk, Carla and Elliot, but he soon stopped that. He didn't want to see, or think about his friends at the moment. They'd be worrying him about it. Stupid cancer, making them worry, Stupid wallet making him worry. All the same, he added it to his list.
1. Wallet (money troubles)
He headed to the kitchen to get a glass of water, pausing at the cupboard. He opened it up, picked up a packet of crisps. Water forgotten, he walked back to his room.
"I will eat these." He said forcefully to himself on the way. "I will." But it didn't work. He opened them, took a single crisp and tried to eat it. It tasted like cardboard in his mouth. He couldn't eat anymore. Groaning, he threw the packet across the room. Then, thinking, he wrote that down.
2) Uneaten crisps (not hungry anymore)
JD sighed, and went to use the toilet.
No, inner monologue. He said to himself. I am not just putting it off. JD spent a long time in his bathroom, finding various things to do. He checked the ingredients in all his shampoos (he had about 7). He alphabetized his medical cabinet. He even weighed himself, finding out he had lost a fair amount. He sighed a little, thinking of the uneaten crisps.
Heading back to the bedroom, he froze, staring at the pot of hair gel on his bedside table. Something struck him that hadn't before, even when he was picking up shampoos. He wrote it down before he could forget.
3) Hair gel (hair loss)
JD was getting bored, so he picked up random things, trying to find the meaning behind them.
4) Holiday brochure
Life, he supposed. How many holidays would he have? Nodding to himself, he scribbled (life) after it. 4 down, 3 to go.
He supposed he would have to put the scrubs in the corner down, wouldn't he? He wasn't even sure why he had them. But all the same he did, and so he added them to the list.
5) Scrubs (work)
Trying desperately to think of the final two, he was suddenly shocked into life by the opening notes of the Gilmore Girls theme tune. He picked his vibrating mobile phone up and flipped it open. But as he did, it stopped ringing.
One missed call
Unknown number
"Helpful" he scowled to himself. Staring at the phone, he had another brainwave.
6) Mobile phone (friends)
He held the phone in his hand for a moment, looking at it until his screensaver kicked in.
It was a picture of the hospital from last year, one of the group pictures Bob Kelso had insisted on. The older doctors clumped together at the back and the interns formed a scared mess at the front. Somewhere in the middle stood JD, Turk, Carla, Elliot and Dr Cox, who was desperately trying to look like he wasn't with them. Groaning inwardly, JD forced himself to write the last point, being as vague as he could.
7) Photograph (Love)
The pencil had just left the paper when he heard a knock at the door. He froze, and waited, trying not to even breathe. There was a pause, then the knock came again.
Do I want to answer it? He wondered. Who is it? Turk? Elliot?
"Who's there?" He called, mouth dry. No answer came.
"H-hello?" He called again. Still nothing. He stumbled towards the door, tugged it open. He looked left, then right.
"What the hell?" He yelled angrily. Nobody was there. He looked from left to right, but there was definitely no one. He slammed the door shut and went back inside.
Just out of sight, around the corner, sat Perry Cox. He leaned against the wall, breathing heavily from running so fast.
"What was I thinking?" He hissed to himself. "Stupid, stupid, stupid." He stood up, shaking his head. He cast one glance back to JD's door.
"No." He said to himself, as he walked away. "No." Still murmuring that word, he headed back to his apartment, where he intended to drink until receipts, absences and suspicions left his mind for good.