First of all, sorry for the delay!

Secondly, this is the shortest chapter EVER. The reason? My laptop is malfunctioning and therefore several letters on my keyboard aren't working which means until I can afford to get a USB one I have to use this stupid one that is on the screen in front of me, where I have to click on the letters I want to use. Very frustrating.

Still, I hope you enjoy it despite it's ridiculous length. R & R, as always.

Lots of love to you all. =)

x

Chapter Twenty-Nine - Moving Forward

Dr. Cox POV

"Dr. Cox? Dr. Cox, are you awake?"

I cracked an eye open - Newbie was leant over the bed, dressed and looking nervous. I shut it again, rolling over to face the other way. "No." Vaguely I acknowledged the sound of him moving away from the bed, towards the door. Without thinking it through I found myself turning once again to face him, opening my eyes up properly. "Where do you think you're going?"

He hesitated in the doorway, glancing back at me. "I've got to go to work… unless you don't want me to or something…?"

I raised an eyebrow. "What would you do if I said just that?"

"Errr…" He started clutching his sleeves. "I guess I could call in sick or something -"

I snorted. "Carla would rip my testicles off. Best that you go in."

"Oh, well, yeah. You're right. Okay, well I'm gonna go now. Thanks for… you know. Everything."

"Screwing your brains out you mean?"

A smile twitched on his lips. "Yeah. And the cuddling."

I grimaced, frowning. "Putting my arm around you as we're falling asleep does nawt constitute as cuddling, Mary."

His mouth dropped open. "Does too!"

Shrugging, I shut my eyes again. "Think what you want, doesn't bother me." I was lying. It did. I wasn't a cuddler. No way, no how. I listened as he muttered a quick 'fine' and started to walk away, stomping a little for effect. Just as I was starting to drift off once again I felt a warmth next to my face and, without warning, a warm pair of lips brushing against mine.

When I opened my eyes he was speedily heading towards the front door. "Bye!"

"You'll pay for that later," I called as he slid out of the door and slammed it shut, leaving me alone once again. I stretched myself out, enjoying the space - I loved sleeping in a king-bed on my own, with all of that leg room… then again…

I hated to admit it, but the night before had been more of an experience than I wanted to let on. Hell, that was obvious enough considering I had practically invited Newbie to stay for a little longer - a big difference from the morning before. In the end, I was nawt the kind of person to enjoy cuddling of any kind, preferring the 'love them and leave them' philosophy of sex… yet falling asleep with my arms around that ball of fluff had been almost comforting. Not that I needed it. I was more than capable of looking after myself and prided myself on not needing anybody or anything.

Just a bottle of scotch would do.

I groaned inwardly as I threw my legs over the side of the bed and hauled myself off of it, heading directly to the end of it to where my cell phone had fallen out of a pocket. Feeling somewhat angry at myself, I flipped it open and started typing out a message.

X X X X X

JD POV

I stared at my phone, hardly believing my eyes.

The Big C (07:52) Want to come over me tonight?

This was unreal. I had just spent two evenings and sort-of two mornings with him and he wanted to see me again? I toyed joyously with the idea of turning him down and saying I had other plans, only imagining how frustrated it would make him. The montage played through my head with multiple endings, the best by the far the one where he broke down at my door and begged me to have sex with him -

"Bambi, there you are!"

Carla's voice made me jump in the silence of the Doctor's Lounge, a look of concern shooting across her face as she looked at me standing in the middle of the room looking like a school-boy caught writing 'Mr. Thompson Loves Cock' on the wall. (Those popular kids were so cool…)

"Are you all right?"

I nodded, half-heartedly waving my phone at her. She smirked.

"I see. Dr. Cox texting you by any chance?"

I frowned. "How did you know?"

She rolled her eyes. "C'mon Bambi, I've known you long enough now to know that look on your face. What did he say?"

Quick, improvise! "He wants me to come over him tonight." No, no! Has Improv class taught you nothing? "I mean, he wants me to come over tonight! To his apartment. Not over him. That's just wrong. So how are things?"

Her smirk deepened. "Things are fine, and don't change the subject. You two seem to be getting quite close."

I shrugged, trying to act as if I didn't have butterflies from the mere possibility of seeing him. "Maybe a little. He's probably just bored."

To my frustration, she nodded. "It must be dull not having a job."

"Mmm."

She looked at me a little harder. "You know I'm only kidding, right? He probably just misses you."

Glee filled my stomach. "Do you think so?"

"Yes JD, I think so. I saw this coming before either of you, remember?"

My reply was mumbled. "Stupid psychic Latina -"

"What's that, Bambi? You want your ass kicked?"

"Never mind," I hastily replied, snapping my phone shut and shoving it into my pocket. "So how have my patients been doing? In tip-top shape?"

"Such good shape that you shouldn't have even bothered coming in today!"

"Really?" Another excited montage made its way through my head of be bursting in on Dr. Cox in his apartment as he (for some reason) cooked an omelette in the nude -

"No, not really," she sighed, motioning her head towards the door. "C'mon Bambi. I know you'd rather be elsewhere but this is your job. Be excited about it."

As we walked to the Nurse's Station together, I realised with a jolt that the excitement of going in every day had waned somewhat since Dr. Cox had left - even when he had been an asshole and made me feel like I wasn't cut out to be a doctor it still gave me a rush to have to prove him wrong… and then I realised something else.

Was this like Elliot all over again? Now that I had won the fight with Dr. Cox, now that he was actually showing an interest - however reluctant - would I roll over one day and realise that I didn't want to be with him anymore? The thought sent a shudder through me… no. No, I couldn't ever do that to him. I couldn't do it to myself. After all that pain, all that agony, the tears and screams and orgasms… no, I couldn't.

I bit my lip.

But what if I did?

X X X X X

Yet another awful day. Without Dr. Cox here I was suddenly everyone's Go-To-Guy, the one that somehow was supposed to have the answers to all of their stupid and usually pointless medical queries. Even Dr. Kelso had come to bust my ass for something that had Dr. Cox's name written all over it, something he must have done before he left - I was now apparently Perry Jnr.

Somehow, that didn't thrill me.

I found myself answering page after page - there were interns who had forgotten how to place an IV after weeks of being here, Residents who had decided, after weeks of seeing Elliot as a better doctor than me because she was Chief Resident and I was 'Co'-Chief Resident (thanks to the Janitor), that I was now the closest thing to Residency Director that this hospital had (despite there being Attending Physicians littering the floors) and, last but not least, Kelso paging me about bits and pieces that I had never had to deal with before Dr. Cox left - I was overwhelmed. How had he handled all of this before? How had he not given in after one day of all of this crap?

The urge to text him was immense, just to ask if I could have a five-minute chat with him to calm myself down but for one, I didn't have the time - Sara (one of the interns I could actually see getting one of the Residency places if she stopped stalking me so much) insisted on paging me every ten minutes to make sure she was on the right track with her patients. I had a sneaking suspicion that she had a teensy bit of a crush on me. It was a shame that I was falling head-over-heels for a certain ex-Residency Director as I would have been more than happy to make her a booty-call of sorts.

The other reason… well, I was still kind of obsessing over the whole 'will I realise this is all one huge mistake' issue. I had been sure that Elliot was the love of my life up until the moment I finally won her away from Shaun - thank god they'd kept meeting up after I broke her heart and rekindled what had never really burnt out in the first place.

Still, I couldn't dwell on it. I was happier than I had been in a very long time - though it did involve constantly being on the edge of my seat waiting for a text back - and just the thought of going to see him straight from work filled me with butterflies. Just imagining that growly voice of his, his strong hands on my hips, eyes burning right through me -

"Scooter."

I jumped, clutching at my stethoscope as the Janitor stepped out of a doorway - he was armed with what looked like ammonia, head tilted slightly to one side as he considered me.

I was too stressed for this. "What? What horrific experience do you have planned for me today?"

Typically, he looked affronted. "What, because I'm lurking in the closet it means I'm waiting to terrorise you? Because I'm a Janitor and have nothing better to do with my time, I purposefully stalk your every move so that I can end you once and for all?"

I stared at him. "Uh… yeah?"

He blinked. "Mmm. You're right." He squirted a little ammonia inches away from my face. "Better move, that stuff stings. Besides," he added, plucking out what looked like an apple from his pocket and tearing a chunk from it. "It's not like I'm going to tell you what I have planned. Why ruin it?"

"Right, why ruin all the fun we have?"

He narrowed his eyes. "Exactly."

I turned away from him, seriously not in the mood for his head-games. Just as I started to walk away he called after me, as casual as anything -

"Don't mess it up this time."

I paused, tensing. I half-turned. "What?"

"You know. Mess up like you did with blonde doctor."

Turning properly, I found myself wanting to lunge forward and cling to the front of his shirt, beg him to help me. It concerned me. "I… you don't know anything. Don't stick your nose where it doesn't belong."

He raised an eyebrow, shrugging. "What does it matter to me? It's not like I care. He's not blonde doctor."

Against my will, I shuffled forward slightly.

"How… how do you know all this stuff?"

"I know everything." This was said with utmost confidence. I half-believed him. "Besides, I saw you and him the other night."

Horror flooded through my veins. I ignored my pager as it went off. "Were you watching through his window?"

The Janitor frowned. "No. I saw you, outside of the hospital."

Oh, shit. I recalled Dr. Cox kissing me without hesitation in front of the double doors leading into the hospital, without caring who saw - and making a point of it afterwards. "Oh, that? He was just, uh -"

"You can't lie to me, Scooter. I know you," he said, shaking the ring of keys attached to his belt. I didn't know exactly what he was referring to but it still worried me. "He kissed you, in view of everyone."

My pager went off again. We both looked at it but I wasn't ready to answer it. "Did…" I leaned forward and lowered my voice. "Did anyone else see him kiss me?"

For a moment I could practically see the cogs whirring in his head, wondering whether to screw with me or be straight with me. He looked at me intently for a second, trying to decipher what it would be worth either way.

"If I tell you this, can I have your dead dog?"

My mouth fell open. "No!"

He pursed his lips. "A lock of your hair?"

"No, of course n-wait, why would you want that anyway?"

"It's not important. Okay, if I tell you who saw you, what will you give me in return?"

In my desperation, I pulled the stethoscope from around my neck and held it up. "This?"

His eyes sparkled. "Deal." He snatched it from my hands and wrapped it around his neck. "Okay. No one else saw you."

I blinked. "What, no one?"

"No one."

Frustration welled up inside of me. "Why couldn't you have just told me that?"

The Janitor shrugged. "If I bribe you, I get stuff. I thought you got me."

Our eyes met. "I don't get you."

"No," he mused thoughtfully. "Nobody does. It's a gift."

My pager went off once more - I whipped it from my waistband and glanced at it - shit, three pages from Dr. Kelso. "Gotta go!"

I whirled around in the opposite direction and started to run - just as I rounded the corner I heard a distant rumble:

"Don't worry ma'am, I'm a doctor. Dr. Jan Itor. Let's take a look at that brain of yours."

X X X X X

I stared at Dr. Kelso in horror. "I… sir, I don't have the time to do these extra case-reports, I'm absolutely swamped!"

He narrowed his eyes and shot me a glare dangerous enough to make my butt clench. "You are a resident of this hospital, son, are you not?"

"Yes sir, of course I am, but -"

"You want to become an Attending Physician at the end of the year, don't you?"

"Yes sir, I just -"

"Dr Dorian," he huffed, bowing his head slightly and unleashing his most Chief of Medicine-y stare, "if you wish to continue your residency here and work here afterwards I expect you to do whatever the hell I tell you to! I don't care if you have interns breaking down on your doorstep of an evening, you'll do these case reports and have them done for me by the end of the day!"

I knew I was beaten. "Yes sir. End of the day."

I hope he means midnight.

He nodded sharply and turned, walking purposefully in the direction of the ICU - no doubt to terrorise someone else. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Elliot leap out from behind a patient's doorway and scuttle in the opposite direction of him - only to leap in the air as her pager went off. I watched as she glanced at it with the slow pace of someone dreading their fate - yep, definitely Kelso. Her shoulders sagged and she went sloping off in the direction of wherever the old bastard had got to, ignoring me as she went.

It was hard to feel sympathy for her. I definitely had it worse. Realising that I might screw up with the guy I had fallen hard for over the past four years gave me a whole new perspective and it didn't feel good.

Dr. Cox POV

Joanna (15:04) Gonna need a rain check for tonight. Got stuff to do. Sorry.

My eyes drifted to the empty space on the couch beside me, trying (and failing) to ignore the annoying tinge of disappointment that echoed through my veins.