AN: Alright folks, the long string of Perry POV is almost done, only one more chapter after this and then we get another JD moment. I feel bad that this goes so long without him but I couldn't find another appropriate place to put him in. Thanks again to all my reviewers and the staggering number of people who have faved or alerted. Enjoy! ~Artemis
Chapter 9 – His Head-to-Heads
In a hospital, confrontation is just something you come to accept as an everyday thing, like your morning coffee or having to put on a brave face and deal with that patient you can't stand. But there are a couple different kinds of confrontation. First there are the friendly ones, where you bicker with a friend but there is no real animosity. Then there are the confrontations spurred solely by anger that usually end up being pointless fights used to release all that pent up frustration. And then occasionally you just get stuck in those confrontations where you can't really argue much as you're getting your ass handed to you on a silver platter. My typical day, unfortunately, consists of all three.
I was in a far better mood when I arrived at the hospital that morning than I had been the previous morning. Of course the full seven hours of sleep and having real food in my stomach might have had just a little bit to do with that. Still I slipped back into my usual demeanor as I entered the hospital, remembering what my job was and just how many bad things were happening at this very moment all over the building. I growled at a cheery intern who tried to say good morning to me, snarled an insult at that huge janitor that was always lurking around but never seemed to be really working (although I was careful not to say anything too harsh because I didn't want to spend the rest of the morning tied up in the morgue again,) and gave a long-winded rant to the young resident that had hunted me down about a diagnosis.
"Wow, impressive," Carla remarked from behind the desk as the resident tried his hardest to not run away. "You must have gotten some sleep."
"I slept beautifully, despite the fact that I'm quite certain there was a monster lurking in the bed with me," I said, sparing her a genuine smile. However before I could even ask the next question she was answering me.
"He's the same as yesterday," she said. "Still doesn't remember anyone, but he seems to be even cheerier after getting sleep. Kinda like you. Turk's in with him now, brought in some photo albums he found in Bambi's apartment last night."
"Oh yippee," I said, feigning a teenage-girl-like enthusiasm. "Scrapbooks! We get to take a yippity-skippity trip down memory lane."
Carla arched an eyebrow at me, planting one fist on her hip. "And what, oh cynical one, do you have in that box?" she asked.
Deciding I didn't feel like explaining, especially not in front of the curious onlookers that were pretending not to listen around us, I simply held the box toward her and opened the lid. Carla's eyes widened, clearly picking up on what they were instantly. "The She-Beast sent them for Newbie," I said and then closed it and tucked it beneath my arm again. "Her hormones are still out of whack from the last pregnancy."
"You sure she's not pregnant again?" Carla asked jokingly.
"Carla, don't scare me with that sort of voodoo, please," I said, shuddering dramatically. Carla laughed appreciatively. "Anyway, as much as I love gabbing with you, I've got about six weeks of paperwork to catch up on so I'm gonna go drop these off with Yvette and head to my office. You're welcome to drop by if you feel like it."
"Stop flirting, Dr. Cox, that ship sailed forever ago. You know, after the anchovy thing," Carla said and she flashed me that charming, cheeky smile of hers before walking away and into a patient's room. She paused in the doorframe, glanced at me over her shoulder, and gave her butt a little wiggle. Then she winked and vanished into the room. I simply watched her go, grinning. God, she is so great.
Turning on my heel, I strode down to Newbie's room. The door was wide open and the kid was sitting up in bed, Turk sitting in my chair – no, it didn't belong to me, it was the visitor's chair. The pair of them were pouring over the pages of an album, Turk pointing to different photos and explaining the situations, making Newbie laugh. It was actually kind of endearing to watch, finally seeing Newbie so happy again while his black wife entertained him. It was something normal.
"Morning, Glory, Gandhi," I said, causing the other two to look up.
To my surprise, Newbie giggled at this. When I raised an eyebrow the kid murmured, "You said morning glory."
I rolled my eyes. "Why yes I did, and like said flower you are dainty, feminine, pretty in pink, and absolutely impossible to get rid of," I said. Gandhi shook his head disapprovingly but Newbie was grinning. "So, Turtle-Head, don't you have a job that I pay you to be doing? Which you're currently, well, nawt doing?
Gandhi glanced at his watch. "Not for about twenty more minutes I don't," he answered with a shrug. "My first surgery isn't until eight-thirty."
"And you're not out already doing your pre-op basketball game?" I asked in mock awe. "How will you ever de-stress so you aren't so tense you cut off a patient's limb?"
"Ha, well as a matter of fact, I'm amputating Mr. Carlisle's foot," Gandhi said, grinning in that overly-cocky way and arching his eyebrows in a sign of knowing that he's won the argument. Newbie stifled a laugh. "Besides, I'm chillin' with JD."
"Reminiscing about the good ol' days, eh Golden Girls?" I asked, glancing again at the photo album that was spread out on Newbie's lap. Despite myself, my curiosity got the best of me and I crossed the room to stand behind Gandhi's chair, looking down at the page.
There were eight shiny photographs beneath the protective sheeting. All eight of them featured a range of people in tacky eighties' clothing involved in various activities, such as drinking or dancing or sprawling out in what appeared to be a messy dormitory. At the center of all of them were the same two people, always right next to each other. A young black guy with a high-top fade and at his side was a scrawny white guy with an atrocious, black mullet.
"Oh. My. God." I stared down at the younger versions of the two men in front of me, eyes wide and trying not to break down in hysterical laughter. "You both looked ridiculous."
"Hey, that hair was so fly," Gandhi said defensively. "It was getting me so much tail I didn't know what to do with myself."
"Yeah, if someone offered to have sex with you I can imagine that you would just be so-ho-ho clueless as to what you're supposed to do," I said with a sympathetic nod. "You're lucky you managed to brainwash Carla into marrying you and getting her to teach you a thing or two about, you know, the naughty. Otherwise you'd just be all kinds of lonely and pathetic." I stopped myself from adding, 'Like Newbie here,' at the last second, forgetting the kid had no idea his social life was so tragic.
Gandhi had just opened his mouth to respond hotly when a young, blonde nurse poked her head in the door. "Dr. Cox?"
"What?" I snapped, glowering at her. "And it better be su-hu-huper important."
"Um, admissions just called up, they said there's a woman down there who's freaking out pretty bad and she's asking for you. Her name was Kim Something."
I felt my frown tighten and when I glanced down I found Gandhi look up at me, both horrified and anxious. Newbie, on the other hand, just looked confused and curious. "Alright, because dealing with a psychotic, screaming woman who is looking to me for answers is what I do every Wednesday," I said derisively, pushing my usual expression back into place and rolling my eyes. "Honestly, if I had wanted to deal with a crazy woman I'd have just stayed home."
Then I tossed the shoebox onto the bedside table beside two more, large photo albums and stormed out of the room, staring at the nurse so she scooted out of my way. While I acted like as much of a jackass as normal, I was deep in thought as I made my way back down to the lobby. Great, Kim was here. I had expected her to call me back, not fly over here on the broomstick she'd stolen from Jordan and go all hysterical.
When I stepped out of the elevator on the first floor I could already hear a high pitched voice alarmingly similar to Barbie's, as well as a frantic and hushed voice of the nurse that was trying to calm her down. The moment I stepped into her range of vision Kim's eyes locked on me and she completely forgot about the nurse in her rush. "What happened?" she said instantly, breathless from already having assailed the nurses for information they didn't know.
"Calm down," I said firmly, staring her down. "When you stop freaking out then I'll explain everything. Got it?"
Kim scowled at me, folding her arms over her chest and pointedly taking a deep breath in and out. "Alright, talk," she said flatly.
I felt my annoyance multiplying at the fact that she was trying to give me orders. I didn't like her to begin with, and this was most certainly not helping her case. I tried to keep reminding myself that she was the family of a patient and therefore needed to be treated with a certain level of respect, but the voice in the back of my mind kept reminding me that technically the only blood she shared with Newbie was flowing through their kid. The kid that she had lied to him about and tried to keep a secret from him. So technically, I really owed her nothing.
Biting the inside of my cheek, I jerked my head, gesturing for her to follow me to the corner of the room. When we had stepped off to the side, I planted myself firmly, legs apart and arms folded, touching my nose with my thumb before starting. "Be quiet and listen," I said bluntly. "I'm only telling you about all this because I figure since you're currently in possession of Newbie's kid then you have some sort of legal right to know as his caretaker, because I honestly do nawt like you and if I had my way you would ne-he-hever set foot in my hospital again."
"Yeah, I know, I've heard it before," Kim said, shrugging it off.
"Good, glad that's understood." My jaw clenched and I rolled my neck and shoulders a bit to ease myself up. Then I launched myself into a full and detailed explanation of exactly every injury the kid had sustained, comfortably using all of the medical terms I was used to because I knew that she would be able to follow without me dumbing it down. She might be a horrible cow, but she was a doctor and she knew the lingo. By the time I finished telling her about the amnesia circumstances Kim looked genuinely terrified.
"Oh God," she breathed, her hands over her mouth. "But he's – he's going to come back, isn't he? I mean his memory will come back, won't it?"
"I honestly don't know," I admitted. "We're doing what we can but for now all we can do is wait it out and see if anything changes."
Kim looked like she might actually be on the verge of tears as she shook her head slowly. "But what about Sam? JD won't remember him? How can I explain that to Sammy? I can't handle raising him on my own!"
I stared at her, completely disbelieving. I had just told her that Newbie had nearly died and when she started panicking it sounded like she was truly concerned about the father of her child, but in the end she managed to make it come back to her. I had seen a lot of people react selfishly to bad news, but this one really drove it home. And I fully intended to tell her that. "That has got to be the most selfish thing I have ever heard in my life," I said, deadpan, and this stopped Kim short. "JD almost died two nights ago. He is stuck up there with absolutely no idea that he has a son, or who his best friends are, or even who he is. And I can understand you being worried for Sam but by God, you instantly start thinking about yourself."
"Well I'm sorry if I'm a little anxious about the idea of suddenly having to raise my child without the help of his father!" Kim shot back, her panic replaced by rage instantly. "If JD's memories never come back then this honestly will never be his problem because he won't remember having a commitment to his son, but I'm the one who will be stuck taking care of Sam alone. And even though he's too young to know it now, what'll happen in the future when Sam starts asking where his daddy is? How do I tell him that his daddy loved him very much but now he can't remember who he is?"
"Do you honestly think that JD would flake out on Sam, memory or not?" I snapped heatedly. I was aware that there were people staring at us but I didn't care. I was sort of used to being stared at when I was angry anyway. "Even if he can't remember it, if you tell JD that Sam is his son then I can guarantee you that he is going to do everything in his power to help out. He will give everything to make sure that kid grows up happy, because that's just who JD is. He would do anything to please people, and he will sure as hell do that for his son whether he remembers being there when he was born or not. JD has a heart of gold and I know the sight of that little boy is gonna melt him like the girly little popsicle he is." I continued before thinking about what I was saying, so caught up in my rage. "Besides, maybe forgetting would be for the best. Then he'll forget about all the ways you've lied to him from square one, especially that little kicker about having miscarried when you really didn't and then when he found you out you came begging for his help. Might make your relationship a bit less awkward, don't ya think?"
Kim looked as though she had been physically struck by my words and her eyes grew misty. However she straightened her posture and sucked it up. "Fair enough," she said, her voice thick but under control. There was a resounding silence in which I felt a bit of guilt creeping into me at the sight of the emotionally crushed woman. As much as I hated her, I knew that my blow had been way below the belt and I didn't really enjoy fighting dirty unless it was absolu-hu-hutely necessary. I tried to reason with myself that this time had been one of those cases; how else would I get Kim to really listen?
"Can I talk to him?"
The perfectly composed question startled me and I focused on Kim's face. She had gathered herself in those seconds and although her eyes were still emotional the rest of her was neutral. "I don't know if there's any way I can stop you without some sort of legal ramifications," I admitted, my way of giving her permission. "Naturally I wouldn't care except this hospital's lawyer is worthless and I don't want to lose everything."
"Hey!" I glanced sideways and saw Ted standing just a few feet away and watching us argue. Rolling my eyes, I whistled sharply and jerked my thumb in the direction of the hall. Ted trudged away with a lengthy, "Awwwhhh man."
When I returned my attention to the conversation, Kim shifted awkwardly and then tentatively ventured, "Do you think I should bring Sam in to see him?"
This unsettled me even more than the first question had. How could I possibly answer that question? My first instinct was to protect Newbie and I didn't want to overwhelm the kid by throwing in the pressure of his child. The last thing we needed was to send Newbie into a complete mental breakdown. That surely wouldn't help matters. However at the same time, how could I tell someone that they couldn't bring a patient's own child in to see them? I was sure there was some sort of legal mess to deal with on that front. And besides, maybe seeing Sam would trigger Newbie's brain. I knew that if there was one thing in the world that I would refuse to forget, it would be my son. Maybe it was the same for Newbie.
"You'll have to talk to him first," I said simply, shrugging. "When you talk to him and explain the situation to him, then you can ask him if he wants to deal with that or not. But in the end I think that's your call, really."
"Oh," Kim said and there was a sudden uneasiness in her voice. "Well I'm not quite sure I'm ready to talk to him just now. Maybe – maybe I'll come back tomorrow?"
"Fair enough." Then I turned and walked away from her abruptly, heading back up to my office. After getting there I remembered leaving the box of pictures in Newbie's room and decided I should probably go back and explain what they were. The moment I set foot in the ICU, Carla appeared in front of me as if by magic.
"What the hell?" she demanded. Her body was swiftly assuming the 'angry Latina woman from the block that is gonna kick your ass' position and I prepared myself for what I knew was coming even if I wasn't quite sure why it was.
"What'd I do?" I asked, trying to assume alpha male mode but she still seemed to overpower me with her stare alone.
"What were you thinking, screaming at Kim like that? She was trying to get things sorted and get some sort of order into her life and you just exploded at her. What is wrong with you? I mean I understand that you don't like her, I don't much either, but that doesn't mean that you have to go completely ballistic on her when she is so emotionally unstable. God, Perry, do you ever think before you talk? I could just–" Carla mimed a very violent action that looked like it included both a throttling and clawing my chest open, before letting out a loud growl of frustration that made me too proud of her to fear for my life for a second. But only a second.
Carla slipped back into her native tongue and continued to give me the tongue lashing of a lifetime, using far more colorful language now that a lot less people could understand what she was saying to me. And I accepted it all silently, wondering how she'd found out so fast but knowing deep down that I deserved every bit of it – well, okay, so maybe not that chest-clawing-strangulation part.