My Reality

Chapter 7

JD slapped the chart closed and left the comatose patient's room. Carla watched him idly as she rubbed her mound of stomach.

"Woah, settle down there, bambino," Carla soothed as the baby kicked furiously.

JD watched with vague amusement, though the tense anger was clearly writ upon his face.

"Got a kick-boxer growing in there?" JD asked finally when the soothing spanish had stopped flowing from Carla's mouth.

"If she keeps this up, she'll be a football player," Carla muttered as the baby finally slowed down a little. "Or an Aerobics instructor."

JD chuckled weakly and slid the chart into its home. "You know Cox better then anyone, don't you?"

Carla snorted. "I'd say yes, but you're the one who's been spending so much time with the man lately."

"How the hell do you get him to open up then?" JD asked, the frustration evident in his tone. "I mean, staying with you guys has been great, but I'm getting tired of arguing with him every night and then leaving in a huff like a girl."

"You've been storming out of his apartment in a huff?" Carla asked with a raised eyebrow. "Bambi, that does make you a girl."

JD rubbed his tired eyes. Truth be told, it was definitely a toss-up between Perry throwing him out and JD throwing himself out. It usually started with him asking how he was doing, and ended in the door slamming behind him.

"Well, how do you get him to talk to you when you know something's wrong?"

Carla shrugged. "Bambi, I don't know how much help I can give you with this one. Usually, I just let him hang himself and he talks about it eventually. Kind of a "let him come to you" sort of thing. But this is something that I don't think he'd even talk to me about, let alone anyone else."

JD felt the frustration brewing in his stomach all over again as he took a swig of coffee. "That's not good enough; this thing is eating him from the inside out."

"You don't think he's gone back to using, do you?"

"No, but that'll be the next step if he doesn’t let someone help him."

"He's a man, Bambi." Carla patted his cheek as she maneuvered her belly around the nurse's desk. "If you make him think it was his idea to do it in the first place, he'll go along with it."

JD snorted. "That has to be the dumbest thing I've ever heard."

Carla glared at him. "Fine. You figure out another way and let me know what it is when you find it." She slapped a stack of lab reports to his chest hard enough to make him wince. Carla turned and headed down the hallway.

"Carla, come on," JD yelled, desperate for someone who actually knew Perry better then he. Carla didn't turn, and while JD knew he could easily catch up to a woman who was eight months pregnant, there was no way in hell he actually wanted to.

Memories of Jordan's pregnancy with Jack still made him shudder.

XXXXXXXX

"Thanks again, Mom," Jordan as she kissed Jack's head affectionately. She handed the small boy to her mother.

Her mom smiled and tweaked Jack's nose. "I always love to see my grandbaby."

Jack, however, didn't look terribly happy to see her, and as he watched his mother head for the door, screwed up his face in the beginnings of a hellish tantrum.

Jordan winced. "I'll be back soon, Jacky."

"Where did you say you were going?" her mother asked again curiously.

"Just a night out with some friends," Jordan replied. It wasn't an outright lie, but it still made her feel vaguely like she was sneaking out to see a boyfriend that was "too old" for her.

"When will you pick Jack up?"

Jordan pushed Jack's overnight bag into the living room. "I'll be back tomorrow afternoon to pick him up. Say goodbye, Jacky."

"Bye bye," Jack said, though his voice was already shaking as he prepared for the biggest tantrum he'd ever tried to pull off.

As Jordan shut the door behind her, a high-pitched wail filled the air and Jordan had stop herself from going back in to comfort the toddler.

The anger and hurt made her sit still inside her car for a few minutes. She'd tried calling Blondie for a week now. She'd left messages, tried to corner her at work, and even come perilously close to something like that thing that was akin to…

Begging.

Jordan repressed the shudder as the realization washed over her uncomfortably at just how close she had come to it. First she'd just been angry at Blondie's ability to hold a typical teenager grudge; was she at home reading Seventeen magazine and eating chocolate too?

Then she'd started to get upset when, not only was Blondie studiously avoiding her at the hospital, but outside of work as well.

The worry had come next when Barbie turned off her phone.

Christ, Sullivan, get it together.

Jordan shook her head in an attempt to quit thinking so much about what she had already done and get moving to fix this somehow. She sighed and wondered when she started wanting so badly to make it better.

The anger was back now, mostly at herself, for screwing it up so badly in the first place.

A neighbor sitting on his porch frowned when the hard strains of loud rock music blared from the zippy car peeling down the street.

"Damn kids…loud enough to wake the dead…" the old man muttered to himself as he flipped out his paper. He looked above to the Widow Sullivan's place and wondered if she was busy tonight.

XXXXXXXXX

JD sat at the bar with a beer and a shot of vodka. He'd started on an appletini, but just hadn't felt it tonight when he was done with the sweet concoction. It might have had something to do with his conversation with Carla, but he told himself otherwise.

"Hey. DJ."

With a groan, JD turned still-sober eyes to Jordan, who plopped down beside of him and waved down the bartender.

"God, can this day get any worse…" JD muttered and pulled on the beer in front of him.

"Can it, junior, I'm not out for your soul." Jordan took the beer and turned to him. "Not yet, anyway." She took a deep breath, as if she were thinking about something, but wasn't sure how to ask.

JD raised an eyebrow. "What's eating you?"

"Probably the same thing that's bugging you," Jordan finally muttered. "How in God's name do you make it up with Barbie?"

"Oh Christ, you are seriously not asking me for advice on Elliot," JD said before he could stop himself, and shrill laughter escaped from his mouth as the tension of the past week began to break across his body.

"Look, DJ, don't make me regret coming here to ask you for advice," Jordan snapped warningly. "You know her better then any of those other peons at the hospital."

"No offense, Jordan…but I'm having problems of my own with your beast of an ex-husband."

The bartender watched idly as he cleaned out another glass as the dark-haired man and older woman spoke at the bar. He'd seen them in here more then a few times off and on in the past four years; even knew whom they were talking about.

"Might I offer a piece of advice?" the bartender asked idly.

Jordan and JD both glared at him. "No."

The bartender shrugged and walked away. It was simple really. One of them just needed to pull their head out of their ass, the other one needed to back off and support. He hadn't been tending bars all his life to know nothing about the nature of people. Still, he nodded and went to serve another customer.

"The best thing you can do with Perry is let him think it was all his idea in the first place," Jordan replied.

JD frowned.

"Someone already tell you the exact same thing, baby spice?" she asked amusingly.

"Something like that," JD muttered and knocked his head gently against the bar. "How the hell do you get him to think it was his idea?"

"You'll think of something. Now pony up."

JD sighed. "Let her throw her tantrum. It shouldn't last more then a few days, unless she's really pissed."

"What's a week telling you?"

JD raised an eyebrow. "Christ; what'd you say to her?"

Jordan mumbled something inaudibly, cheeks tinting a light shade of red.

"I didn't quite catch that," JD said. "You're going to have to speak up."

"Damn it, this was just supposed to be a one-time thing," Jordan finally snapped at him. Fear and frustration finally broke on a crest of emotions. "Before I know it, she's spending the night over at my house and watching Jack; Jack's not supposed to like her that much!"

"That was your true test for a…significant other then?" JD asked politely.

"She's just supposed to be something fun; I shouldn't have to work at this thing with her," Jordan finished off, horrified that her stomach shook in warning of tears. She downed her beer to steady herself.

"I knew I was going to have to work, but Perry seems to think otherwise," JD agreed. "He told me once that if it's right…if it's worth it…someone will always stand up and say something to fight for it."

Jordan plunked her head against her arms. "Christ; I haven't done this whole high school bullshit of apologizing for anything in years."

"Did you try calling; leaving messages and all that?"

Jordan nodded miserably. "What the hell is wrong with her?"

"Well, what did you say to her?" JD asked again. When Jordan began to mumble, JD sighed. "I can't hear you; was it really that bad?"

Embarrassed now as she thought about it, Jordan nodded. "I just…I told her that I didn't care about her."

"Oh, Jorderoo…"

"Hey, just because I'm asking you for advice doesn't give you that right yet, and I will bitch-slap you into the road."

JD sighed. "That's mistake A with Elliot. Just let her think whatever she wants to for a long time, and she'll come to realize it on her own if she wants to be with you or not. You probably need to let her come to you."

Jordan raised an eyebrow at him, signaling the bartender for another beer for both of them.

"Take your own advice then, JD."

JD smiled lightly at her. "Hey. You got my name right."

Jordan raised an eyebrow. "I ran out of baby names."

XXXXXXXXX

Turk pulled his gloves off to prepare for post-op clean-up. He looked up as he pulled his surgical cap off and frowned.

Perry was standing outside the operating room, and his eyes looked just a bit nervous and crazy.

Turk finished pulling off the surgical gear and threw it away as he washed his hands.

"Gandhi, if you don't get your ass out here in the next five minutes, I will redecorate this room with your head."

Turk frowned and grabbed a few paper towels as he met Perry in the hallway. "What the hell?"

"You know Carol better then anyone, right?"

"Who?"

"Lizzie, Laquanda, Wilma?" At Turk's still blank face, Perry finally got that he was trying to get him to say JD's name. "Gandhi, you know I'm talking about Newbie."

"What's the problem?" Turk asked, and he couldn't keep the smugness out of his voice. "Must be pretty bad if you're coming to me for help."

"Don't make me kick your ass over it either." Perry dragged a hand through his hair. "How do you get that stupid kicked-puppy look off of his face?"

"Jeez, man, what'd you say to him?"

Perry kicked at the wall and mumbled something incoherently.

"What was that?"

"I told him to back the fuck off; none of this is any of his business, and I sure as hell didn't ask him to jump in front of a gun for me, so playing the pity card with that wasn't going to work."

Turk shook his head. "He really just wants to help you, man. You can't get mad at him for that."

"That's our business, Gandhi. Now how do I fix this?"

Turk shrugged. "Look, J-dog just likes to feel like he's helping somehow. Pop out a few tears, give him a hug, say thanks, and he'll leave you alone for a while. He's kind of like a drunk puppy."

Perry raised an eyebrow. "A drunk puppy?"

"Yeah. It's kind of cute until they start barfing everywhere and then you feel bad because you did it to them in the first place. Then they're mad for a few minutes, but then you give 'em some love and attention and they leave you alone."

Perry sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Why do I even bother…" He turned to walk off.

"Yo, man…I'm serious. Just make him feel like he's helping, and he'll leave you alone for a few days and you'll get that look off of his face."

"Fine, Gandhi." Perry looked at him. "Thanks. But if you tell anyone that I came to you for help…"

"I know, fire and brimstone…blargh as I die, bring me to life so that you can kill me again, the whole nine yards."

"It's so nice when I don't have to say it myself anymore. Don't kill anyone." Perry turned again and walked towards the elevator.

XXXXXXXXX

"Have you seen Newbie?" Perry asked Carla, who glared at him. "What the hell are you looking at me like that for?"

"Bambi's just trying to help you, you know," Carla said to him.

"I already asked someone for advice," Perry snapped at her. "Where the hell is he?"

"At the bar, probably," Carla replied with a shrug. "He's off tomorrow."

Perry groaned and headed for the elevator. Drunk JD wasn't going to be terribly fun, but he sighed and figured he might as well try and pick him up before he got to the point of not being able to stand up.

Elliot looked at him as the doors slid open. "I heard you were today; can I talk to you?"

Perry groaned. "I've kind of got my own problems, Barbarella."

"Yeah, so do I. Maybe we can help each other out; come on." Elliot reached forward and tugged Perry into the elevator.

"What is it then?"

"How the hell did you get Jordan to relax long enough to marry you?"

"Aw, are we expecting the wedding bells soon?" Perry mocked easily.

"Bite me, frick-head."

Perry raised an eyebrow. "Frick-head?"

"It was the first thing that came to mind," Elliot muttered as the elevator opened and allowed them out of the hospital. "You don't happen to know where Jordan went tonight though, do you?"

"I'm not Medusa's keeper," Perry replied amusingly. "I know Alice went to the bar."

"How do you get her to quit being scared of relationships? You know her better then anyone."

Perry rubbed his chin as he tried to recall things about his now-over relationship with Jordan. "If she's scared, I'd say the best thing you can do is just be scared with her. If she's lashing out at you, run. It means she's preparing to breathe fire," Perry replied with a shrug. "I told Newbie once that if you're willing to fight for it, and work at it, then it's right. Jordan and I just got tired of fighting."

"Fighting's her middle name…she won't stop calling me," Elliot muttered. "I've had to start turning my phone off at work."

"Sounds like she's fighting pretty hard for you then," Perry remarked.

"JD really just wants to help you, you know. If you make him feel like he is, this whole thing won't be so hard on the two of you."

Perry groaned. "You're the third person today to tell me that."

"Who else did you ask? I know Carla was one of…oh my god, you actually asked Turk for help?"

"Shut it, Barbie, or I'll take back all the nice things I tell Jordan about you and start telling her the truth."

Elliot did close her mouth at that, but only because she knew he was bluffing. Warm, balmy wind blew over them as they stood outside the hospital.

"All I know about Jordan's plans is that she dropped Jack off at her mother's for the night," Perry finally mentioned. "Her mother called me because Jack started crying for his father."

Elliot groaned. "That probably means she's at a bar somewhere." A look of realization dawned over her face. "You don't think she went looking for JD to ask him for advice, do you?"

Perry groaned. "That's all I need tonight," he muttered. "I bet they're standing outside of the bar right now, trying to figure out to work JD's phone." He grabbed Elliot's arm. "Hey. Barbie."

Elliot turned as she grabbed the keys out of her purse. "Yeah?"

Perry released her arm. "Thanks."

Elliot shrugged. "Likewise. Let's go pick them up."

XXXXXXXXXX

JD turned his head slowly to Jordan's bright eyes. "You drunk," he slurred out with a laugh.

Jordan raised an eyebrow and tilted her head sloppily. "I'm not the drunk one; you're the drunk one!" she accused back. "You want to do something about, DJ?"

"It's JP…JT…aw, who gives a shit." JD tossed back another shot. "I'm not as thunk as you drink I is."

Jordan snorted at that. "Love bites."

"Tell me about it," JD replied with a sage nod of his head that had the room spinning beneath his seat. He turned experimentally on the barstool, and then decided that it wasn't such a great idea.

Of course, in retrospect, he was wondering if getting drunk with Jordan was such a great idea either.

"No, no," Jordan said with a drunken wave of her hand. "Love really does bite. Then you start needing them, and it's like having a second baby on your hands that just won't leave you alone."

JD chuckled at that because he felt it was true. "I hear ya. Preach it, sista!"

"Where do they get off treating us like crap? I didn't do anything wrong; I just showed up for the game."

"I made the rules," JD said proudly.

"Rules are meant to be broken up," Jordan pointed out and tossed back a shot.

The bartender eyed them surreptitiously from a few feet down. They'd about reached their limit, and was wondering how kindly the pair would take to being asked to leave.

"I ought to give Blondie a piece of my ass," Jordan finished off and then began to giggle with JD when she realized what she'd said.

"Go ahead; it's big enough," JD chuckled at her.

Jordan slapped him across the shoulder. "At least mine doesn't have it's own zode cip…thing."

JD giggled. "Come on…we're drunk. And I think the bartender wants to throw us out before too long."

"Let him," she replied as primly as possible (but it came out more whiny). Even so, Jordan stood and felt the floor rock beneath her feet. "Now that's a good buzz…" she trailed off.

JD fumbled with his phone as he and Jordan stood outside. He frowned as he struggled to debate who to call for a ride.

Perry looked at the pair standing against the wall of the bar. "What'd I tell you?" he asked Elliot as she parked.

"God, this is not going to be fun," Elliot muttered. "JD's an awful drunk…"

"Funny as hell though."

Elliot shrugged as she got out of the car and approached them. "JD?"

JD looked up with dilated pupils and a goofy smile spread across his face. "Elliot! I was just thinkin' about you…"

Jordan jabbed him sharply with her elbow. "Were not," she hissed to him and gave (she hoped) a nonchalant smile. "Princess…finally decided to answer your calls, huh? I've been calling you all week…"

Elliot sighed. "You two need to get some sleep."

"I don't need sleep," JD replied as he shook off Elliot's arm.

Perry joined them. "Yeah. You do, Carol."

"M'name's not Carol," JD said to him. "And you can't call me that anymore."

"Yeah? Says who?" Perry asked (though it was funny to see JD so drunk he couldn't see straight).

"Says me, cause I made the rules," JD replied and broke into drunken giggles. Elliot raised an eyebrow when Jordan joined him.

Jordan wagged a finger at him. "Your rules suck out loud, junior." She glared at Perry and Elliot. "And so do you two. Actin' like we're doing the wrong stuff."

Perry and Elliot exchanged a look that was a cross between amusement, hurt, and concern.

"Think we ought to just knock them out and save us the trouble of trying to get them into the car?" Perry asked.

"As long as you promise to be the one who tries to take her on," Elliot muttered. "You think I want to get near a drunk Jordan?"

"She's a harmless drunk," Perry waved off and turned his gaze back to JD and Jordan, who were attempting to whisper conspiratorially with each other, but not quite getting the desired effect.

"Should just leave 'em…let 'em bury themselves," JD stage-whispered.

Jordan shook her head. "No good…if we kill 'em, I don't have the thing to hide the bodies in."

"And there's that whole murder sentence thingie," JD agreed finally. He poked Jordan's shoulder. "They're lookin' at us again."

Jordan waved them off. "Go play a game or something; we're busy trying to think of why you two suck so hard."

JD burst into giggles at that as he whispered something into Jordan's ear that had her laughing too.

"Okay," Elliot finally said and reached for Jordan's arm. "I think it's time for all little drunk people to get into bed and sleep it off."

Jordan jerked away from her, anger rising up almost immediately. "Who the hell do you think you are? I've been tryin' to apologize to you all week long and all you do is turn your phone off and not answer."

JD nodded and patted her on the back. "You tell her."

Elliot sighed, wondering if it was really worth getting into an argument right now. "I've been busy, and…"

"Like hell you have been," Jordan cut her off. "You've just been playin' your own little games and ignorin' me all week long just because I snapped at you."

The words still hurt, Elliot thought, but didn't correct Jordan. "Come on, Jorderoo, we're going to get you into bed."

"I don't want to go to bed; I want to know why you made me like you so much!" Jordan turned to JD. "And they call me the witch."

"Devil-woman," JD agreed and looked at Perry. "And let's not forget about you…I'm just tryin' to help you an' all you want to do is ignore everything that's happened to you and be a…thing about it."

Perry sighed. "Really eloquent, Newbie. You need to go to sleep."

Jordan jerked from where she'd leaned against JD's shoulder. "Huh?"

"Point and match," Elliot muttered. "Come on, we're going to take you home."

"I don't want to go home," JD whined, but Perry was already steering him to the backseat of Elliot's car.

Jordan, by this time, was nearly sleeping on her feet as she was pushed into the backseat of the car with JD.

"I don't envy you two when you wake up tomorrow," Perry muttered as Elliot started the car.

The sounds of light snoring though indicated that the pair had finally passed out.

XXXXXXXXXX

Jordan shielded her eyes as the sunlight pierced through her brain. She swore ripely and buried her face in the pillow.

Evil liquor, Sullivan…evil, evil liquor…

Her stomach rolled warningly as she turned her head from the pillow to breathe. God, how much had she had to drink last night…?

Come to think of it, how the hell had she gotten home?

Perry entered the room with a cup of coffee and a bottle of aspirin. "Good morning, sunshine," he said brightly and pulled the curtains on the window.

Jordan groaned and flipped him off as she pulled the blankets over her head. "Go away, minion. I didn't order room service this morning, and even if I had? You'd be a hell of a lot cuter."

Perry shrugged and dropped the cup on the table. "What's your problem with Barbinski?"

"Christ, would you let me sleep?"

"No," Perry replied easily and jerked the blanket from Jordan's head. "Get up."

Jordan glared at him, but finally sat up. "It's none of your business."

"You made it my business when your girlfriend and I had to pick you and a drunken Newbie up from a bar at three in the morning."

"God, were we drinking that long?" Jordan muttered mostly to herself but finally picked up the hot mug of coffee and the aspirin. "And you two didn't have to do anything."

"Look, Barbie's too shy and innocent to know the true evils of making it work with you, so I'm going to lay it down flat," Perry replied evenly. "She cares about you, and she's willing to make it happen with you, but you've got to quit being such a bitch about it."

"Only you would tell me that," Jordan conceded and looked at him. "But I hardly think you're the one to be handing out relationship advice, not when you're so obviously screwed up yourself."

Perry shrugged. "I imagine Barbie's telling Newbie the exact same thing right now at her place. She didn't want to face a hungover Jordan, and I can't say I blame her."

Jordan glared at him. "My personal life is none of your business anymore, so you can just take a huge bite of my ass."

"As long as you promise to finish that entire cup of Denial, sure." Perry stood. "Enjoy the hangover."

Jordan threw a pillow at him as he exited the room.

XXXXXXXXX

Elliot waited patiently as JD reaped the benefits of too much alcohol in the bathroom. The gagging noises nearly made her want to join him, but she steeled her resolve.

JD finally exited the bathroom, his pale face still faintly green. "What the hell do you want?" he asked.

"That's nice of you." She held up a bottle of water and a bottle of aspirin. "Your stomach done talking to the toilet then?"

"I think it wants to play tag some more, but I'm not up for it," JD muttered, rubbing his sore stomach. "Give me the aspirin and water if you want to live."

"Did Jordan say anything last night?" Elliot asked, still holding the water and aspirin.

"Don't kid with me. I need that water and that aspirin, and I'm willing to do anything to get it."

"Did she?"

"She's just scared," JD finally muttered and took the bottle of water and aspirin from Elliot's hands. "What'd Perry want with you anyway?"

"Advice." Elliot turned and grabbed her purse. "I've got to get to the hospital. Look, just…let him come to you on this? He's having a really hard time trying to open up to you about anything. He's like Jordan in that respect."

"Then I have some advice for you then. If you let her think it was all her idea, things will be a hell of a lot easier on you too."

Elliot shrugged and chuckled. "God, these two are emotional nightmares, huh?"

JD nodded as he downed the aspirin. "No kidding." He gave a weak smile as he flopped on the couch with closed eyes. "And just think…you're in love with one of them."

Elliot stopped mid-step, but struggled to shake it off. "You are too."

JD shrugged. "That means we're the winners then. We're the winners."

Shaking her head, Elliot walked out the door and whistled as she walked to her car.

Continues with Chapter 8