I hate sneak attacks, Turk thought, wincing as Carla tightened the bandaging on his side. She looked at him apologetically but he just nodded with gritted teeth in response. Elliot hovered in the background of Carla and Turk's apartment, babbling to herself about just in the frick they were going to explain this to the media.

"I'm going to kill Artik." A rumbling voice said suddenly. Turk jumped a little. Elliot faltered in her fastspoken blonde language for just a moment, for determinedly carrying on as if she never heard anything. "Bastard ran away as soon as we entered the room… coward…" JD paced back and forth through the room, and for a second Turk didn't recognize him. He didn't... look like himself at the moment.

It may or might have not been just a trick of the lights, but every time JD made quick, sharp U-turns as he paced to and fro, he could have sworn he saw a reddish gleam in the demon's normally bright blue eyes.

And it made him want to shiver.

"…Now I know where the notion that Kansas is Hell came from." Dan muttered. "How did we end up in Kansas?"

Molly smiled at him in that cheery way she always did. Jordan grimaced. "The spell I used will take you wherever you're thinking of when you use it. For whatever reason, I must have thought of Kansas for a fleeting second before activating it."

Ben blinked at her. "What could make you think of Kansas while we're running for our lives?"

Molly shrugged.

Jordan opened her mouth to say something witty.

Dan waved a hand, "Guys! Can't we just focus here for a second?"

Jordan shot him a look, annoyed at being interrupted even before she said anything. "Oh, look who's trying to play peacemaker for once. That was Sally's job, Gonads."

"I don't even get that nickname," Ben said with exasperation. He saw a town up ahead as they trudged down an old dusty road and briefly wondered if any of the stores there had cameras.

Jordan glanced at him in a somehow scorching way that was enough to make her brother wilt. "It had Nad in it, which is Dan backwards." She explained indifferently.

"Like how you call JD, DJ?" Molly chirped.

"GUYS!" Dan exclaimed.

"Daniel, there's no need to yell…"

"Dude…"

"GONADS! Shut up!"

They were doomed.

"He could have died."

"Dr. Cox, you couldn't have known--"

"I shoulda sensed something was wrong. That's what team leaders do. They protect their teammates."

"Dr. Cox, please, there's nothing you could have done unless you were there yourself--"

"I should have been there." Perry insisted.

Carla snapped suddenly, "We were all worried about Bambi, don't use that as an excuse to blame yourself!"

"Him too."Carla stopped. There was a heavy pause. "What?"

"I should have known Newbie'd be fine and went to check on Ghandi. I should have taken Jumpsuit's word for it. They don't call him the best for nothing." For once, Carla was glad the redhead was buzzed from alcohol, because if Perry were completely sober he'd never admit any of this.

"Sweetie," Perry winced a little, and Carla continued, "we all know how you feel about--"

"Don't go there."

"I'd assumed you've come to terms with having feelings for Bambi by now." Carla deadpanned and Perry seemed to shrink in on himself, just a bit, as she said it. He raised a shot glass to his lips but didn't drink it.

"I… have." He murmured into the glass at last.

"You just don't like to say such personal things out loud?" Carla guessed.

With a moment's hesitation, Perry grumbled finally, "…Not in a freaking bar filled with nosy-ass people."

Carla had to let out a soft laugh at that. "You still can't get over the fact that you've fallen for a demon?"

The nurse thought she saw the hunter-doctor jump in his barstool seat. "I never said that, thank you." He snarled.

"But that's the problem." It wasn't a question.

Perry glared at her scathingly through the corner of his eye, "…He used to be human. A part of him still is."

"But most of him isn't anymore. The humanity left in him is still enough to let him have feelings for anyone in the first place, but…" Carla trailed off, silently urging Perry to continue for her.

But instead he hissed, "I'm not that Goddamned easy to read am I?"

Carla's only answer was an expectant stare.

"…I don't like it when he…" His grip on the shot glass tightened. "…you know. When he goes… demon."

Carla's eyes softened. "Hun, you've never even seen him go into his full form like Artik has."

"I don't want to."

Carla soothed, "No one does."

Perry's teeth grit together to the point where they might have cracked under the pressure, "He's all nerdy-cheery one second and the next he looks ready to crush someone's skull in."

"I don't think he likes it too much either, Perry."

"I can't just ignore it."

"You don't have to. Just… learn to live with it." Carla cursed herself for that slight hesitation.

At first, Perry didn't say anything. But then he turned his head to look at her and said in a worryingly emotionless voice, "Learn to live with it. Is that the best you can come up with?"

"You're not being much help here, either." The nurse retorted. She felt angry, frustrated. Why did Dr. Cox have to fight her on everything, especially with things like this?

"…I want to be with him." The suddenness of the statement made Carla backtrack. "Damn it all, I haven't even known him for a year and already I'm…" he didn't allow himself to finish the sentence.

Not knowing what else to do, Carla put a hand on his shoulder, grabbed the arm holding the shotglass and lowered it to the table, and said softly, "Come on, let's go back. Bambi's probably worrying about you."

A/N: Kind of a filler, but I finally updated… a bit short, too, maybe. But I'm just glad I updated. Review to show you're still with me? I won't blame you if you're not.