Be Happy For This Moment

So I know this isn't really a fic post, but...

Fri, 04 Dec 2009 19:30:23 GMT

So I've tried it all so far on this new menu bar thing. I have no idea how to post a cut again XD If anyone's figured it out or wants to tell me I'm blind or something, please let me know how to post a fricking cut so I can update Tangled Web on the LJ site.

For those of you patiently waiting for the next chapter, all EIGHT chapters are posted at FF.net. I hate to redirect everyone to a new site, but until I figure out LJ's new secret, that's what I'll have to do.

Sorry for the inconvenience folks!

The story can be found here:

http://www.fanfiction.net/~elisedavidson

Questions and stuff

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 00:37:31 GMT

Okay, so I just wrote the most beautiful thing ever, I think, in Chapter 8 of Tangled Web. Chapter 6 will be up on Wed, then 7 on Sun and 8 on next Wed. I don't know how long this thing is gonna go on, honestly XD As long as the writing keeps coming, I suppose.

Was just excited ^_^

Okay, now where the hell did the cuts go? I haven't been able to post anything new on LJ for Tangled web :(

=/ Where did the LJ cuts go?!?!!!

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 18:28:37 GMT

If anyone's curious as to why I haven't posted Chapter 3 yet on LJ though I have posted it on FF.net under Elise Davidson, it's because LJ's changed up their stupid formatting again, and I haven't the foggiest how to post now XD

Anyway, the real crux of this post is this:

OMFG I GOTS A CAR I CAN GO PLACES I HAS CARZ NOWZ!

That is all.

-Elise

Their Tangled Web, Chapter 2

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 18:10:24 GMT

Title: Their Tangled Web
Author: Elise Davidson
Rating: M
Pairings: JD/Cox, Jorliot
Summary: Jordan and Elliot start something they can't end. Perry knows it's over, JD is clueless and angry.

Title: Their Tangled Web
Author: Elise Davidson
Rating: M
Warnings: Slash, Femmeslash, Angst
Pairings: JD/Cox, Jordan/Elliot, Turk/Carla
Author’s Notes: So hi folks. Good to be back; thanks for all the warm welcomes! I totally forgot this part when posting the first chapter, lol. This story was burning a hole in my head, I guess. I had a big Season 8 marathon (bought it a week ago or so) and felt some inspiration kick in. I don’t really know where this story is headed, as if probably evident by the lack of smooth transitions XD I can tell you though that I sat down and wrote the first chapter in a night and did something similar with the second.
However, I’m trying to cap at 15 pages or so per chapter, and I managed to get all the way through Chapter Two without really getting to where I wanted to be XD But it’s all good. It’s all nifty set-up and fancy background work.
For those of you who are wondering, yes. The story WILL eventually be JD/Cox; just bear with me during these times. It’s starting off kicking and screaming with a lot of Jordan/Elliot, and it may seem like JD’s a little OOC. For that, I apologize. I’m managing to stay true, I think, to Perry, Jordan and Elliot, but I think I nailed JD a little more in this chapter.
Okay. Said my peace. Enjoy!
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Jordan held the phone in her hand, a sinking feeling in her stomach. She scowled at it, reminding herself that Per-bear simply had another bone to pick with her over something that didn’t matter. She pushed her hair from her face and put the phone back on the nightstand.
Lying back on the bed, Jordan ticked her fingers on her collarbone in thought, an old habit that had been with her since elementary school. Elliot lay asleep beside of her, able to sleep through anything from an asteroid to a hurricane.
How the hell had he even got a hold of Elliot’s phone anyway?
Elliot snorted a bit in her sleep, rearranging herself under the thick covers. She slid an arm around Jordan’s waist, nudging her face into the older woman’s side. Jordan quietly smoothed a hand over Elliot’s hair, trying to soothe her into stillness.
The motion worked, and Elliot was soon making quiet snores and breaths.
Jordan looked at her phone again, wondering what Elliot could have possibly had on her cell phone that would make Perry text her at all. Perry hated texting usually, unless he was sending random forwards to other people in order to annoy them. He didn’t use them for substance.
Her phone whined again, and Jordan looked at it. This time, it was from Perry’s actual cell phone and he was calling.
Jordan ticked her fingers again unconsciously, and immediately hated Perry for making her feel so nervous about something she was so happy (gross) about.
She ignored it.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Jack lay on the couch, snuggled under a quilt while Jennifer lay on the other side, sleeping soundly. They seemed to be feeling better, though Perry had opted to keep them home with the nanny.
Perry slid his lab coat over his arm, giving instructions to the woman as JD waited at the door. He rubbed Jack’s head and kiss Jennifer’s cheek.
“Be home tonight, alright, Jackster?” Perry said quietly.
Jack didn’t say anything back, but smiled at his father.
Perry grinned, something that took years off of his face. He adjusted the covers over the children and headed for the door.
“You alright there, Newbie?”
JD seemed to snap out of his daze. “Just fine. It was probably just some one-night thing,” he went on after the door had been shut. “Can I get a ride to the hospital?”
Perry wrinkled his nose. “I assumed you were walking.”
JD rolled his eyes. “Come on, I’m running on all of two hours of sleep because I was up all night with you taking care of your puking kids. You owe me.”
“Fine, but no gunshot.” Perry stabbed the elevator button viciously. “Front seats are for people who know to leave things alone in other people’s cars.”
“Are you ever gonna let that go?” JD muttered, rubbing a hand over his face. He’d showered quickly that morning, and had managed to find some gel in Jordan’s cabinet. It wasn’t his usual, but he also hadn’t been trying to defy gravity lately. He experimentally pushed at it, noting that at least his hair felt a little softer.
“Not so long as you act like a girl.”
“So never.”
“You said it, I didn’t.” Perry stepped out of the elevator, swinging his keys in his hand. “Jordan didn’t call back.”
“Maybe she’s just busy. What did she say she was doing last night anyway?”
Perry gave him a wry glance. “Same thing Barbie said. She was going out with her fellow baby-eaters club to drink herself to cougar status with some young thing.”
“It could be worse,” JD reasoned as he slid into the backseat of Perry’s car.
“How could it possibly be worse?”
“She could be sleeping with a dude.”
“Newbie, you’re remarkably calm.”
“Well, I know Elliot’s a two-beer-queer. She’ll sleep with anyone after a couple of lemon drops, and for all we know, that’s what happened. It’s not unlike her to do something like this. What’s weird is that she didn’t tell me about it.”
Perry revved the car. “God, you really are naïve.” He shook his head and started down the road. “As for me, I’d just assume she wasn’t sleeping with anyone.”
“Perry, it’s—“
“Drop it, Newbie.”
“But—“
“I said drop it.”
JD stopped talking with a grumpy frown. He glared between his hands, Perry’s head and the window. When they were at a red light, he finally spoke again, assertion and dominance clear in his voice.
“There’s an explanation for all of this. I know it.”
Perry shoved the car into park on the side of the road. “What part of drop it didn’t you understand?”
JD shrugged. “I’m not going to let you and Jordan drag Elliot and I down just because you’re convinced somehow that Jordan and her are sleeping together. So what if they are? Things have been fine.”
“Like hell things have been fine! When was the last time Barbie looked at you and meant it when she said she loved you?”
Though a curl of doubt filled JD’s stomach, he kept his gaze steady. “Every single time. You’re so worried? Go find them and ask. Elliot’s probably sleeping it off at her friend’s house, and Jordan’s out torturing the aged. If you’re so sure, go find your ex-wife.”
Perry glared at him. “If I let you sit in the front seat, will you shut up? I don’t have to see it to know what’s going on. I’ve known Jordan long enough to get it, and if you even knew Barbie half as well, you’d believe me.” He stopped the car so JD could switch seats.
When JD didn’t move, Perry glanced at him again.
“Are you going to get in the front seat or not, Jessica?”
JD slipped out of the vehicle so he could sit in the front seat, stretching his legs out gratefully. “What made you change your mind?”
“Anything to see the look of crushed dreams on your face up close and personal when you find out what life’s really like.”
“I die a little every time you say crap like that.”
“Fair enough.”
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Jordan checked out of the hotel with Elliot in tow, wondering for a moment if she should tell Elliot that they may’ve been found out. She opted to wait until Elliot had at least had a cup of coffee or two first, and decided it would be best to do it on the way to the hospital.
An enclosed car would tame Elliot’s freak-out.
“So where’s your phone, princess?” Jordan asked calmly as they sped away from the hotel.
“I left it at home. I didn’t want to be disturbed last night. JD was on at the hospital till seven, and then Keith was coming in. Anything the interns needed, they could’ve asked them for. Besides, I still had my pager.”
Though Elliot continued to babble, Jordan barely listened. Long-accustomed to Elliot’s brand of chatter, Jordan waited for it to wane down. It was endearing, really, the way Elliot could go on and on forever.
Jordan swallowed against the lump in her throat. She hated having to skirt the issue, normally used to bluntly saying it. Elliot appreciated that, Jordan knew, but this was far more serious than that, and it would take fancy footwork to convince Perry of otherwise.
JD was naïve, of that Jordan was sure. He’d believe anything Elliot said to him. Perry was another story.
“So you left it at home?” Jordan asked when she sensed Elliot was staring at her.
“What’s up with you today? I just told you that aliens had kidnapped me and replaced me with a pod person.”
“They did a damn good job on your clone. Hotter.”
Elliot rolled her eyes at the jibe. “So what’s wrong?”
“Perry texted me from your phone, princess,” Jordan finally spit out.
Elliot’s face was a myriad of emotions, going from shock to horror to anger to little-girl-lost all within a minute. She opened her mouth and closed it several times, looking very much like a bug-eyed fish who was struggling for water.
“But…but…how did he get it?”
“Where was DJ last night?”
“He said he was going home after his shift. I’d assume he was tired.”
“You know what happens when you assume, princess. We’re getting sloppy.”
Elliot snorted and crossed her arms firmly. “Like we’ve ever been neat about anything.”
“Now’s not the time for jokes. Now we really do have to figure out what to do.”
“Oh please. Like you can’t just tell Perry what a drunk lesbo I can be. He’ll eat it up and probably want pictures.”
Jordan aimed a sideways glance in Elliot’s direction. “Pictures?”
Elliot’s jaw dropped. “My phone.”
“What about your phone?”
“Remember a couple of weeks ago? We went out drinking?”
“You’re asking me to remember things while drinking. Have you met me?”
Elliot chewed her lip, hands immediately beginning to clench and unclench in an age-old habit of trying to return circulation to them. They always got colder when she was nervous.
Jordan turned into the hospital parking lot. “Just…just play it off. You hardly ever see Per-bear while working. You take care of DJ, I’ll handle Per.”
“What if—“
“Don’t care, princess. You just stay clear of him.” Jordan parked and undid her seatbelt. “He’s not going to ruin this for me.”
Elliot heard the determination in Jordan’s voice, and gently slipped a hand to her shoulder. “Jordan, are you okay?”
“Drop it, princess.” Jordan clenched her teeth and jerked from Elliot’s touch. “I’ll handle this.”
“You don’t have to do this on your own, you know.”
Jordan looked at her, her face inscrutable and blank. She kissed Elliot quickly on the mouth, uncaring now in the parking lot if anyone saw. It wasn’t like it was much of a secret any longer anyway.
“I’ll take care of it. If I need you, I’ll page you.”
Elliot nodded, though she was obviously unsatisfied with the answer. She unclipped her seatbelt curtly, and stepped out of the vehicle.
Jordan scanned the employee parking lot quickly, and saw that Perry’s car was already there.
Great.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
JD looked up when he saw Elliot briskly walking into the ICU. She looked well-rested and not a bit like she’d had a long night of any kind. He breathed a sigh of relief; Elliot would never sleep with Jordan sober. There was just no way (not that he didn’t enjoy thinking about it some male capacity; come on).
“Have fun with Mel?” JD asked, reaching in to kiss her cheek. He jumped a bit when she dodged and eased away. “You okay?”
Elliot gave a distracted nod, glancing behind her as if to look for someone. “Yeah, I’m fine. Just tired is all.”
“You looked fine just a minute ago.”
“Say, do you know where my phone is? I forgot it last night when I went out with the girls, and I didn’t find it this morning when I stopped at the house.”
JD cleared his throat. “I didn’t see it. I was at Perry’s apartment; his kids were sick and Jordan was out.”
He couldn’t be sure, but JD was sure Elliot’s face turned a bit pink. He was just imagining things, that was all. They were past all of this high school crap; hell…they were moving in a few weeks.
They were happy now.
But the ugly curl of doubt was back and pinching him for thinking something like that. JD watched as Elliot patted him on the shoulder and said something. He didn’t register it, but Elliot seemed to be satisfied with his nod.
“Love you,” she said and walked away to her first patient.
JD felt his heart jump. It hadn’t reached her eyes. He wondered now how many times he’d missed it, and if her eyes lit up when she said it to Jordan. If she said it to Jordan. How long she’d been saying it to Jordan. If Jordan let her kiss her on the cheek the way she hadn’t let him a moment ago.
The thoughts spinning through his brain, JD gave his chart to Jo and headed for the men’s restrooms as quickly as he could, locking himself in one of the cubicles as his breathing sped up. His stomach jumped and cavorted as if he had swallowed a bag full of butterflies. He couldn’t even bring up a daydream to pull at that thought, only concentrating on how it felt instead.
No daydream could pull him out of this realization. He wanted Turk, wanted to tell him what was going on, but then again, Turk had heard this all before. This was nothing compared to when Elliot had all but used him for a one-night stand and jumped into Sean’s arms minutes later.
JD sat on the toilet with a thunk. That was why Elliot couldn’t take Sam last night. She was with Jordan. After all, JD found it extremely unlike Jordan to simply not pick up her phone, especially if she’d had any idea that Jennifer and Jack were sick.
JD couldn’t decide if he threw up because he’d caught the same bug as Jennifer and Jack or if he were simply overwhelmed with the new realization that once again, the girl of his dreams had betrayed him in a way he could barely fathom.
Torn between finding Jordan and starting an all-out catfight and just curling in the doctor’s lounge, JD stood from the dingy floor of the bathroom. He washed his hands, rinsing his mouth out methodically, if only to busy himself with the simple acts.
Glancing at the mirror, JD rubbed a hand over the stubble on his face. His eyes were bloodshot from vomiting, his skin pallid and clammy. He pulled a few paper towels out harder than necessary, swearing sharply when they tore in his hands.
They would talk when they got home tonight. They could fix this. JD sighed, rubbing his face with the gritty paper towels in order to clean the sweat from his face. Until then, he could lose himself in work, in the all-encompassing thoughts of taking care of other people, even if he could barely manage to take care of himself.
With a determined sigh, JD slipped from the men’s restrooms. He couldn’t hide all day, and eventually, he’d have to talk it out with Elliot. Not feeling much better and still feeling queasy, JD headed back to the ICU.
They would fix this.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Jordan steeled her resolve as she rode the elevator up to Perry’s office. She hadn’t seen DJ yet, though if he had any idea what was going on, he was more than likely throwing a hissy fit or simply ignoring the problem.
Or worse (and far more likely in her book), daydreaming about the hotness that was her and Elliot having sex.
With a snort, Jordan stepped off the elevator. This wasn’t about DJ, and she wouldn’t let herself be distracted by whatever he was doing. She was about to face up to Perry and tell him that once again, she’d rocked the boat. Except this time, she wasn’t jumping right back in.
Jordan knocked on the door, but didn’t wait for a response, simply sweeping in. “So, Per-bear. What’s got your panties twisted up?” She flicked a stray hair from her face. “I really was busy last night, you know.”
“Jack and Jennifer want to see you when you get home. They were sick last night,” Perry replied, ignoring the jibes.
Jordan’s eyes widened marginally. “Are they okay?”
“Yeah,” Perry replied absently, pulling paperwork towards him to read and sign through. “No thanks to you and Barbie, of course.”
Jordan narrowed her eyes. “You can’t possibly be pissed about this.”
Perry finally slammed the paperwork away from him, standing angrily. “I thought we were past this, Jordan. We both agreed that it was time to be happy instead of engaging in this backstabbing bull that you’ve convinced yourself is a happy marriage.”
“Maybe we were never happy to begin with,” Jordan snapped back. “What the hell is happy anyway? Maybe we’re just content and you should leave it well enough alone.”
Perry gritted his teeth. He wasn’t going to lose his wife to Barbie of all people. “Have you thought about Jenny? Or Jack? Hell, how about that girl-child Newbie managed to produce.”
“They’re fine, Per-bear. You’re just worried about your reputation of a good family.” Jordan splayed her hands out on the desk, leaning forward in an intimidating stance. “They’ve got plenty of love, and a mother and a father.”
“Except JD was the one holding Jenny’s head over a bucket last night and making sure Jack had water. Where the hell were you?”
“And where was DJ’s little boy throughout all of this?”
“I don’t know, Jordaroo…why don’t you ask his mother? Since Barbie couldn’t manage to pull her head from between your legs, Carol sent his kid back early.”
Jordan felt fury rush through her at the crass insult. “That’s just rude, Perry. Just because we won’t let you watch doesn’t mean you have to stoop so low.”
Perry stared at her incredulously. “I hit a nerve? Oh, this is just simply delicious.” He glared at her and watched the faintness of emotion sidle over her face, chased away by a faint shade of red (whether it was anger or embarrassment, he couldn’t tell). “Dear god, you love her.”
“So what, Perry?” Jordan snapped. “We’re done talking about this.” She turned to leave in a huff, sweeping her purse from the chair.
“Jordan, I’m not going to sit in a false family just because you don’t have the guts to do what’s right for you and your kids.”
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Jordan whirled around. “You’re not leaving and neither am I. Jack and Jen are going to have a mom and a dad, just like you always wanted.”
Perry narrowed his gaze. “So you’ll be ending this thing with Barbie?”
“Of course not,” Jordan snorted. “I’m not going to let you take this away from me.”
“Since when have I ever done any taking? As I recall, you’re the one who has trouble staying in this. I’ve always been willing to fight for it. At the first sign of trouble, you’re the one who’s running and jumping into the haystack with whoever’ll tell you just how well that botox works.”
Jordan didn’t let the hurt show on her face. “You took everything. I won’t be home tonight. I’ll send someone along to help move the children out.” She slammed the door behind her.
Perry felt the anger welling up before it could stop. Something indefinable made him feel like he just wanted to slam a fist into a wall.
So he did. And winced when he felt some of his bones neatly break. He looked at the swelling maetatarsals in his hand, and grimaced in satisfaction.
For one, he could still feel pain. And two, it was his writing hand.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
“You ever look back on something in retrospect and think “man, that was stupid”?” Carla asked amusingly as she helped Perry bandage his hand.
Perry didn’t look happy at her sarcasm, and thought about telling her so.
“So what did it this time?” Carla asked. She raised her eyebrows as Perry didn’t respond again, and only continued to glare at his hand. “That bad, huh?”
“I don’t want to talk about it, Carla.” Perry gently shook his hand to test the bandages and splints. “Thanks for helping with my hand though.”
Carla placed a hand on his shoulder. “What’s wrong, Perry? You’ve never shut me out before.”
“I’ve got someone to go to on this one,” Perry replied. He hugged her with one arm. “You just worry about that new spawn of Gandhi in your belly.”
Carla smiled, placing her hands on her still flat stomach. “I’m hoping for a boy this time.”
“Just so long as it’s not another—“ Perry stopped himself before he could say something hateful about girls, knowing full and well that Carla’s estrogen levels were through the roof right now. “Birthing where Gandhi manages to stick himself to an ice machine.”
Carla smiled. “Good story for Izzy when she’s older though.” She hugged him and turned to leave. “Well, if you need to talk…you know I’m here for you.”
Perry waved at her dismissively, and turned to head for his office again. He would need to repair the large dent in the wall, which would more than likely require calling Janitor. Perry sighed, rubbing a hand through his hair and winced when he realized it was his broken hand.
He had only managed to break three of his metatarsals, though his fingers were swollen as well. The basic bandage-splint they gave to all broken hands made him feel a bit clumsy and slow.
Perry realized he was concentrating on the wrong thing in order to push away the reality of it all. Maybe Jordan hadn’t meant it. She’d threatened to move out plenty of times. It was her wording that concerned him however.
“I’ll send someone along to help move the children out.”
That had indicated nothing about herself, and more about the kids. He frowned. Jordan was the one cheating; why the hell did she want to uproot the kids?
Perry fished Elliot’s cell phone out of his lab coat pocket and dialed Jordan’s number, annoyed that it was on speed-dial.
“Perry, I know this is you. I thought we were done.”
“We are, Jordaroo. I just thought since you’re the one doing the walking, you’ve got no right to uproot the kids and move them anywhere.”
“Elliot still hasn’t found a buyer for her house, and it’s in Jack’s school district and even closer to the nanny. What are you going to do; make an effort to be home in time to get them from school and play with them and feed them dinner?”
“Jordan, you’re not moving the kids.”
“Too bad, Per-bear. Don’t make me get the lawyers involved.”
“Why stop now? You’ve been gunning after my salary for years.”
Jordan squeezed her eyes shut tightly. “I’m still coming to get them this afternoon. We’ll talk about custody later. Give Elliot her phone back.” She clipped her phone shut and turned to the door of Elliot’s mostly empty house.
They had talked about keeping Elliot’s house anyway. Jordan sighed. It looked like they were going to be doing just that.
Glancing at her phone, Jordan noted the time and wondered if she could catch Elliot for lunch. They had a lot to talk about.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Elliot signed off on Jo’s chart before turning back to the nurse’s station. She still hadn’t found her phone, and was beginning to wonder if JD had something to do with that. However, she hadn’t managed to catch him for more than a few minutes at a time.
She was certain he was avoiding her.
Elliot bit her lip thoughtfully, and decided to go against Jordan’s wishes. She knocked on Perry’s door.
“Enter,” came Perry’s stressed, angry voice.
Elliot entered the room slowly, just in case he had turned into the same angry guy who threw things from her first year of internship. She wasn’t disappointed, and managed to dodge the lab coat tossed in her general direction.
“Well. That was rude,” Elliot said with a wrinkle of her nose.
“I don’t really care what you think is rude right now,” Perry responded in a deadpan voice. “And if I were you, I’d march my skinny, flat fanny right back out the door.”
“So you know.”
Perry turned his weary gaze to her. “Barbie, this is between Jordan and I. Why don’t you go ruin your own relationship? I’m sure Newbie would want to know for certain instead of dodging your confessions of a teenage homewrecker all day.”
“Jordan wants this too; it’s not just on me.”
“Keep telling yourself that, Barbie. Let me know when you believe it.”
Elliot blew a piece of hair from her eyes. “Do you at least know if JD has my phone?”
Perry tossed the offending piece of electronic equipment at her. “Take it. And get out.”
Without another word, Elliot picked up her phone and shut the door behind her, feeling frustrated tears building up behind her eyes. The pressure was pulsing at her temples, and she rubbed at it to try and make it go away.
Instead of heading back to the ICU, Elliot called Jordan.
“For the last time, Per, if you want to talk, call the lawyer.”
“Jordan?”
Jordan immediately regretted how she had answered the phone. “Thought it was Perry-blue-balls again, Stick. He’d been calling from your phone.”
“Sounds like him. How’d he get it?”
“DJ.”
Elliot closed her eyes. So JD more than likely knew. “Well, I guess I better go bite the bullet with JD then. He didn’t say anything this morning.”
Jordan shrugged, though Elliot couldn’t see it. “Was hoping I could kidnap you for lunch.”
“Maybe later.”
When Elliot said nothing else, Jordan frowned. “Don’t let this tear us apart, Stick. If I’m gonna fight for it, you have to as well.”
“I know. Look…just let me call you back later, okay?”
“Alright. Keep it together.”
“We will.” Elliot hung up the phone and determinedly headed for the ICU. She rounded the corner, and finally caught JD coming out of a patient’s room with Drew. “JD?”
JD glanced at her, hoping the truth wasn’t showing on his face, but he knew it was. “Keep up with the mucomist every four hours, check the stools for the charcoal. Also get a psych consult and have a nurse change out the IV bag.” He flipped the chart closed and handed it to the intern, who shuffled away to complete the orders.
Elliot half-reached for him, but JD dodged the touch.
“JD, come on…we’ve always been able to talk.”
“I thought so,” JD replied with little emotion in his voice. “Apparently not.” He pulled another chart from the nurse’s station. “What else is there to talk about?”
“JD, can’t we talk something more private?”
“There’s nothing to say.” JD turned to her finally, and Elliot felt her breath steal from her lungs at the absolute wounded hurt upon his face.
“JD…look, it just happened,” Elliot tried again, though she knew JD had shut down emotionally to protect himself. “We didn’t think it would go this far, we didn’t—“
“Elliot,” JD interrupted her. “Just…let it go. Go be happy. I’ll survive; I always have when we split.” He sighed, hand coming to lightly rest on the chart and on the desk. “I thought we were going to make it this time.”
Elliot couldn’t find the words, wanting so much to tell him she wasn’t sorry it had happened, that she was finally with someone who made her feel like she didn’t need the drama. She wanted to share just how wonderful it was, and how she hated that he felt hurt.
She wanted to pretend it was some other girl who was leaving him.
“JD…I won’t say I’m sorry.”
This finally got a reaction from him, and JD whirled. “Excuse me?”
“I’m not sorry,” Elliot finally said in a stronger voice. “I love her.”
JD’s hands shook visibly, and he slammed the chart into her hands. “I’m going home. Cover my interns, will you? Thanks and bye.” He turned from her and started out the ICU in a rage, feeling very much like screaming or crying or doing both at the same time.
He had barely reached the elevator when Perry caught up to him, jumping in the same car with him.
“Can I help you?” JD asked coldly. “My shift is covered and I’m going home.”
“Hell no, Newbie…if I have to stay here all day, so do you.”
JD glared at him. “For once in your miserable life, would you just let up?” he asked angrily. “She’s leaving me; I at least need some time.”
Perry slammed the emergency stop button. “You’re not going home. You’re certainly not leaving this hospital in a huff like that.”
“You can’t be serious.”
“I’m your boss, Newbie, don’t forget it. You are not going home to leave Barbie to cover the ICU all by her lonesome self. That’s the coward’s way out.” He sighed hard and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Look. I know this isn’t easy for you. But you can’t just let your personal life take over your professional life like this. Patients are still sick and people are still dying.”
“It’s not easy for anyone, Perry,” JD retorted quickly, stressing his name in order to annoy him enough to leave him alone.
Perry struggled not to displace his anger. “I didn’t come in here to yell at you. I came here to ask you a favor.”
“Depends. Gonna let me leave and lick my wounds in peace?”
“Oh, can it with the drama. I’ll let you leave if you watch Jack and Jennifer till I get home. If Jordan comes first, don’t let her take them till I get there.”
JD stared at him with wide eyes. “You can’t ask me to do that. Jack and Jennifer are yours and Jordan’s, and she’s got just as much right—“
“If you’d been pleasing Barbie like you were supposed to be, this wouldn’t be happening at all,” Perry interrupted harshly. “You want to leave?”
JD’s gaze could have killed, had it been able to. The venom in his voice nearly surprised Perry with its cold hatred.
“You know I do,” JD spat out. “I’ll head over there.”
Perry nodded. “Then you can leave. Make sure they stay hydrated.”
“Doctor,” JD snapped. “What do you want me to do once you get home? I sure as hell don’t want to be around for the screaming match that’s going to be you and Jordan.”
Perry swiped his nose angrily. “Just watch them. They’ll still be out of it, and will probably need a story or two. Knowing Jordan, she’ll bring Barbie with her. It shouldn’t take long, not with what little I have to say.”
JD hit the start button again. “You really are an ass.”
“Girl.”
“Bastard.”
“Pippi.”
The cold fury didn’t leave JD’s normally cheerful face as he calmly flipped Perry off and stormed out of the hospital.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Author’s Notes: Okay then. I tried to get a little more of an insult/banter type deal between Perry and JD just to set up for later. For now, I still don’t know where this is going; it’s just still coming out XD Hopefully, I’ll get to the slashy stuff before too long. Probably in the next chapter. Hope you enjoyed this chapter, R/R please and thanks!.

Their Tangled Web

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 01:28:11 GMT

Title: Their Tangled Web
Rating: M
Pairings: Eventual JD/Cox, Jordan/Elliot
Warnings: Slash, Femmeslash, Angst
Author's Notes: Been a while, folks. Sorry! I can't swear that I'm updating any of my other stories, but this one's been burning a hole in my head since my Season 8 marathon. Enjoy, folks. Don't know where this is headed or where it's going.

The first time it happened, they were drunk and stressed. Too much alcohol, too many emotions and too much frustration broke over in a tidal wave of cresting tears and touchy-feely sex that made at least one of them want to vomit in the morning.

The second time it happened, it was because only one of them was drunk and the other came to drive them home from the stupid bar. All the way home, words were either slurred out between hiccupping sobs or pointed out in cruel, clipped tones. It peaked again, this time with no tears and just sloppy sex.

The third time it happened, they were both sober. They had only wanted to discuss the other two times, mostly to say that it wouldn’t happen again. They were both taken, they both had children to worry about, and that it couldn’t work. The wave didn’t peak this time. It only ebbed along the shore of something more than sex and alcohol, gently lapping at the sands of a real relationship.

The fact that there was no alcohol the third time made one of them fear for sanity, and the other fear of vomiting once again.

The fourth time and fifth time, it was because someone had said something or done something, and it happened in supply closets. It was rough and needy, but no less loving and caring.

On the sixth time, they opted to quit counting. Alcohol was sometimes involved again, either bringing angry words bubbling to the surface of a tense bubble that threatened to pop them or engulf them within a safe, luminescent balloon of rainbow-colored whispers.

However, when it had gone for a year and they still saw each other, they knew they had a problem. They couldn’t hide it forever, couldn’t break the relationship off. This was something immensely serious, and neither had a clue how to handle it. One only knew how to run, the other only knew how to push.

So they kept on the way they had, simply finding ways to get together, finding excuses to see each other. And so it went for another six months.

And then it was time to move. Time to vacation. Time to relax and let the drama go. Time to try love again. Then it was time to pack up and move in for the normal life. A normal family, something neither of them had ever really had. It was time to be adults and quit indulging in the “silly secrecy” of a high school relationship that could threaten everything they had worked for, everything they had sacrificed for.

It was time to pretend to love someone else the way they loved each other.

Which was how Dr. Elliot Reid knew she was well and truly fricked.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

“What the hell are we going to do?”

“I don’t know, Stick, you act like I have all the answers or something. I didn’t ask for this.”

“Well, you got it! So what are we going to do?”

“Can’t you just leave it alone and let us keep going the way we were? It was working fine.”

“You’re willing to try and catch a ride with Turk every time you want to see me?”

A sidle of a disgusted shoulder. “Nonsense. I’ve got a lapdog to drive me wherever I want.”

A quickly expelled breath that sent damp, shower-fresh blond hair sliding against her cheek. “You know it can’t go like that.”

“Well, what do you want me to do? You know we can’t just end this; Christ knows we’ve tried! And we sure as hell can’t tell anyone. There’s kids involved, princess.”

“You don’t think I know that every time I’m holding Sam? What about Jack? Jennifer?”

“Leave them out of this.”

“Hey, if I have to worry about Sam, I should be able to bring up-“

“Can’t you just let things flow for once? You spend all your time worrying. We’ll find a way.”

“How can you be so sure?”

A wry smile this time with a chaste kiss as they slipped into bed. “Because I refuse to spend another day feeling dead when all I have to do is be with you to feel alive.”

There was nothing but silence and the slide of lips on skin after that. They both tried to ignore the salty taste that had nothing to do with sweat that stained their faces. When one could no longer ignore it, the realization was as clear as day that they loved each other.

And that was how Jordan Sullivan knew she was well and truly screwed.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

“Don’t really care, Per. Tootles!” Jordan let the derogatory good-bye hang in the air as she shut his office door behind her. She breathed a heavy sigh and rolled her eyes. She glanced at her watch, calculating the amount of time she normally took for her afternoon massage as opposed to what she was actually doing.

Adjustments would have to be made in order to pick Jack up on time. Jordan rolled her eyes again as she jingled her keys in her hand. Perry sure as hell wasn’t going to be any help in that department.

As Jordan rounded the corner, she eyed JD at the countertop, holding a distraught-looking Sam on his hip.

“Elliot, I thought you would be here by now to pick him up from the daycare. No, I’ve got him. Do you want me to just—no, Elliot, I can’t. I’ve still got another 4 hours, and probably more if I’m going to get this patient in under Dr. Cox’s nose. Alright. No, I understand. I’ll see if Kim or Sean can pick him up early. It shouldn’t be a problem after we move anyway. Love you too, Snuggles.” He hung up the phone, and glanced at Jordan, who stared at him.

“Snuggles?” she asked, quirking an eyebrow up.

“Keep moving, She-devil. Babies sense pure evil,” JD muttered.

As if on cue, Sam seemed to hear his father’s angry voice and burst into a wail.

“Aw, lookie, DJ! You can make him cry. Now see if you can shut both of yourselves up. Cheers!” She turned and continued walking, phone buzzing her purse.

Jordan pulled the phone from her pocket once she was safe in her car. The text was from Elliot, relaying the conversation that Jordan had just overheard.

With another sigh that was almost uncharacteristic of her, Jordan turned the car on. She hated the jealousy (ew) that welled up at JD’s having a pet name for her. She wasn’t his. She barely loved him as much as she loved her.

Jordan curled her fingers around the steering wheel and struggled to shut down. Her heart raced within her chest as she checked the rearview mirror. This couldn’t keep on. Not this way, not when she was skipping (Christ) massages to go and sneak an hour or two with Elliot.

Not when both of them were pawning their kids off onto Perry and DJ. That hadn’t been part of the bargain, but it was just as surely part of it now. Jordan frowned.

This wasn’t her problem. Elliot was the one who kept demanding what they were going to do. Elliot was the one who freaked out. It was Elliot who had the neuroses, not Jordan.

Jordan, for the first time her life, felt her hands break out in a cold sweat and slide over the wheel as she thought of trying to break it off with Elliot.

That simply wouldn’t do. Jordan Sullivan did not break into sweaty palms. She certainly didn’t get cold pits of fear in her stomach, and she sure as hell didn’t feel like she’d simply fall apart on the inside again if she had to leave Elliot.

Jordan flipped the volume wheel on her stereo up in order to drown her own thoughts.

It didn’t work.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

“Thanks so much, Kim…I know you weren’t expecting him until later tonight, but something came up with Elliot, and I’ve got this thing with a patient here,” JD said apologetically, reluctantly handing Sam to his mother.

Kim only shrugged. “It’s okay. Sean and I are going to take him to the zoo while we’re both off this afternoon.” She tickled Sam under his chin, eliciting a giggle. “Would you like that, Sammy?”

JD sighed again with regret. “Next weekend, we’ll go the park, I promise, Sammy. Daddy’s just busy today.”

“JD, it’s okay. If I’ve told you once, I’ll tell you again—you’re a good father.” She kissed his cheek and gave him a quick one-armed hug. “I’ve got to go if we’re gonna make it to the zoo in time to meet Sean. Later, JD. Say bye to Daddy!”

Sammy waved a chubby fist, and giggled again as his father pretended to eat it. Kim smiled and stepped into the elevator.

JD sighed raggedly and ran a hand over his stubbly face. He liked the feel of it, so it wasn’t that bad to feel such roughness on his palms. He grabbed Mr. Lopez’s chart off the counter, and began heading towards ICU admissions with purpose in his step.

Out of nowhere, Sonny popped out of a patient’s room. “Dr. Dorian?”

JD stopped, groaning inwardly. “What is it now, Sonny?”

“It’s one of Dr. Reid’s patients. She left explicit instructions that anything an intern did had to be approved by an attending.”

JD rolled his eyes. “Sonny. I’m sure anything you’ve decided to do is just-“

The dark-haired girl would not be deterred, her smiling face set. “It’ll take just a minute.”

“Look, if I glance it over, will you help me get Mr. Lopez to radiology without Dr. Cox knowing?”

Sonny’s eyes widened. “I don’t know, Dr. Cox can be awfully mean when he wants to be, even to his wife.”

“Ex,” JD replied absently and finally took the chart from her hands. “Yes, it’s fine. Keep an eye out for the side-effects of the sedative you’re giving her though. Sometimes older folks have bad reactions.”

Sonny nodded and saluted. “On the job, Dr. Dorian!”

“Too happy, Sonny. Way.”

“Oh. Sorry. Bye!” She swept the chart from his hands and disappeared back into the patient’s room.

“Oh, Newbie, Newbie, Newbie! Your first mistake was trying to get an intern to do your bidding in the middle of the hallway.”

JD turned, frown already set on his face. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Perry. If you’ll let me pass, there’s people to be saved.”

Dr. Cox swiped at his nose and glared at him. “No time. My office, now.”

“Perry, I’m actually kind of-“

“I’ll say this slowly just so your miniscule brain can fully wrap itself around the entire meaning.” Perry grabbed a hold of the nape of JD’s scrubs top. “I really don’t care. My office, now.”

JD sighed and dropped Mr. Lopez’s chart off at the nurse’s station, hoping that whatever had crawled into Dr. Cox’s throat would deter him long enough for the nurses to get his orders.

Perry half-threw, half-shoved JD into his office. “Where’s Barbie?”

“Elliot? She said something came up with her mother, and it was going to take all but hiring a young male prostitute to make her feel better. Why the hell do you care?”

Perry pinched the bridge of his nose. “Too much, Newbie. I just mean where is she right now?”

“I would assume on the phone with her mother, working her way through a bag of carrots so she—“

“Don’t care what anyone thinks,” Perry replied curtly, hands splayed flat on the desk. “Has Jordan been over a lot?”

JD frowned. “I don’t think so. What the hell has this got to do with sneaking a patient to radiology?”

Perry rolled his eyes. “Newbie, did I teach you nothing about working the system? For the love of god, I have to stop you from doing that! It’s just not in the budget!”

“Whatever happened to you, Dr. Give a crap? Instead of letting me treat people, you’ve got me in here for an interrogation over something I’ve got no clue about!”

“Jordan’s been stepping out more than usual lately, and the nanny says she’s not been home much with Jennifer during the day,” Perry finally muttered.

“Stepping out like…that sort of stepping out?”

Perry glared at him again, this time letting something more than anger bare itself across his face.

JD struggled to push away the joy that Perry was opening up to him. “Why are you asking me about it?”

“Because it sounds like Barboo might know something about it. I figured she might have told you.”

“Like I’d have the guts to call Jordan out on it! She could eat Sammy in one gulp!”

“Good to know that eight years of teaching you didn’t go completely to waste.” Perry stood, indicating JD should do the same. “Don’t sneak uninsured patients under my nose.”

“You know they’re calling you the New Bob, right?”

“B is for blow, o is for out, and b is for butt. Stick an it in there and get the hell out.”

JD struggled to keep his temper, but it wasn’t working very well. Having had to send Sam back early combined with Sonny stopping him on the way now placed neatly with Dr. Cox’s angry spiels did little to soothe his frayed nerves.

“You want me to eavesdrop on Elliot, fine. But you owe me.”

“Fine, take the stiff. He’s half-checked out anyway.”

Perry effectively ended the conversation by slamming the door in JD’s face.

JD muttered his entire way to the ICU, stopping twice on the way to calm a crying patient of Jo’s and to reassure Sonny that her orders were correct (and signing it twice so that she would stop asking him if he thought Dr. Reid would be satisfied at a verbal approval).

When he finally reached the ICU, it was to find that Mr. Lopez had been sent on his way to go home.

JD sighed. This day could not get any worse. By the time his shift had ended, he was convinced of it. Deciding to check in with Elliot once more before he went home, JD stopped at the nurse’s station after punching out for the night.

After all, if Elliot had been dealing with her mother and a bag of baby carrots (and little else) for the evening, she would probably be in dire need of hot wings, a bottle of ranch and a pillow to punch.

JD smiled at the thought. Last time she’d spent the evening on the phone with her mother, he had donned all of the couch cushions in the apartment, letting Elliot pretend he was a young football star who wanted desperately to be on the varsity team, and she had been the overly bossy female coach with something to prove.

His face turned a light shade of pink as he picked up the phone. She had been naught-tay that night.

JD picked up the phone, wondering idly if Carla and Turk wanted to come over, remembering a moment later that they had their date night tonight. Turk had insisted that for one night every two weeks, Izzy go to a babysitter and they have their own private night.

“Hey, Elliot,” JD said, hoping the exhaustion didn’t show in his voice. “How’d it go with your mom?”

“Oh…it was…annoying,” came her voice, overly shrill and slightly breathless. “I think I’m going to hang with some gal-pals tonight so we can gorge on ice cream.”

JD struggled the disappointment away. “Okay, Snuggles. I had a bitch of a day too, and—“

“That sucks, JD! But Melody’s here to pick me up. I’ll see you tomorrow at work?”

“Yeah,” JD said, his tired face now thoughtful. “I love you, Elliot.”

“You too, JD!” The phone clicked.

JD stared at the phone, and then shook his head. Dr. Cox’s paranoia was working its way into his own head. Elliot was just going out with friends to relax and stuff herself after a stressful afternoon phone call with her mother.

Nodding to himself that it was exactly as he’d said, JD headed for the elevator.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

“You think he bought it?” Elliot asked worriedly as she pulled her seatbelt over her chest.

Jordan nodded. “Men hear what they want to hear. We’re good.”

“What’d you tell Perry?”

“Nothing your delicate ears should hear,” Jordan replied with a smirk that lightened her features. She drifted a hand to grab Elliot’s. “Where to, princess?”

“Anywhere involving you,” Elliot tried, and immediately felt cheesy for saying it.

Jordan snorted. “Should I tell the camera man to start now?”

“You know you love it,” Elliot retorted knowingly. “You have to.”

The grin didn’t drop from Jordan’s calculated face as she hit the gas. “That I do, princess.”

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

JD flipped uselessly through the channels late that night, finding not much more than paid programming (and boy, did that Turbo Jam lady have dynamite abs!) and televangelists. Normally, the be-bopping girls might have distracted him, but the conversation with Dr. Cox had simply been surreal enough to keep him distracted from such luxuries.

Turning the television off, JD headed to the kitchen of the dimly lit house. He knew better than to call Elliot on a gal pal’s night, knowing that it would be a lot of drunken, high-pitched complaining he didn’t want to hear.

He was, believe it or not, male, first and foremost, and while he liked to indulge in some whiny bitching himself here and there (well, manly complaining), it didn’t mean he wanted to hear from his girlfriend as well.

JD pursed his lips as he perused the refrigerator for a late night snack. Nothing really caught his eye, and he closed the door again before he could accuse himself of smuggling corn kernels.

Switching the kitchen light off, JD simply decided to head for bed. A good night’s sleep would knock the thoughts from his head. It was nearly 10:00 PM after all, and his shift started at seven the next morning.

No sooner had he changed into lounge pants and a tee and gotten comfortable by himself in the bed did his cell phone begin to shrilly pierce his ears.

Groaning, JD debated ignoring it. Being a doctor, he reached for it anyway. “Yeah?”

“Get your ass over here, Newbie. I need your help.”

“Perry? It’s late. What the hell could you possibly want right now?”

“Jordan’s out with her minions, doing god knows what to small children and little old ladies. She conveniently managed to pick the one night both of the kids come down with a stomach flu. Don’t make me regret calling you, precious.”

JD groaned. Vomit and small children and a really cranky Perry. This a good night did not make.

“Why don’t you take them to the hospital? Katie’s working the night shift; she’s great with IV’s.”

“Do you really expect me to let interns come near my children? What part of me calling you this late didn’t you understand? You know what, forget it, Newbie. I’ll just call Carla, who, having morning sickness of her own right now, will be completely forgiving. Let’s not forget she’s risking exposing herself and her child and her husband, and—“

“Fine, fine! I’ll be over in fifteen. Once again, you owe me.” He flipped his phone closed before the angry retort could come over the receiver and plunked his head into the pillow.

Dragging himself out of bed, JD threw on a pair of sneakers and called Elliot. He wasn’t concerned when she didn’t answer her phone, and only left her a quick message that he would be gone for the evening.

As JD grabbed his keys from the nightstand, his eye caught something he hadn’t noticed before.

He thought to himself for a moment that if he didn’t quit frowning in thought, he was going to get wrinkles far quicker than he would like.

Still, Elliot’s cell phone sat on the nightstand. JD chewed his lip for a moment, debating between the two options. Dr. Cox’s voice rang in his head, questioning him about Elliot’s whereabouts, if she knew what Jordan was up to…

Well, a girl’s cell phone was certainly the way to go. Without giving himself time to think, JD scooped up the phone with his keys and bolted out the door, opting to walk in order to give himself time to think. It would take longer, but he didn’t want to give Perry the satisfaction of thinking he was right.

JD set his face as he walked on the sidewalk. The phone was a heavy weight in his pocket, and he only grimaced before speeding up his walk.

It meant nothing.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The sound of retching greeted JD’s ears as he knocked on Perry’s door. He winced at the teary-voice of Perry’s son, and the exhausted crying of his daughter.

Perry opened the door, holding a pale Jennifer on his hip. “Can you take Jack?” He turned without waiting for a response, leaving the door open.

“You’re welcome,” JD grumbled, looking into the bathroom. Jack was sitting in the floor, eyes full of tears and sleep lacing his features. Like Jennifer, he was pale and weak-looking. “Hey, Jacky.”

Jack didn’t respond, his stomach churning. He closed his eyes, leaning his head against the tub.

Gently, JD picked him up and cradled him against his chest, whispering soothing words to his hair the same way he did for Sammy when he was fussy.

“It’s okay. I bet you feel like you’ve thrown up your toenails though, huh?” JD asked, taking gentle steps towards what he hoped was Jack’s bedroom door. He gently pushed it open, and breathed a sigh of relief at the blue and red décor.

Jack didn’t respond, drowsily laying in JD’s arms.

JD lay him gently on the bed. “How about a story, Jacky?”

“I want Daddy to tell it, Janice,” Jack finally replied, giving a baleful look to the man sitting on the edge of his bed. “I want Daddy. I don’t feel good.”

“I know, Jack,” JD said, trying to stay soothing. “But your sister’s sick too, and your daddy’s taking care of her. How about a glass of water?”

Jack finally nodded miserably.

JD stood and left the room, looking under the sink and in the cabinets for a bin in case Jack didn’t feel well again.

Perry was in the kitchen, rocking the two-year-old Jennifer in his arms as he paced the floor. “How’s Jack?”

“Still not feeling that great,” JD replied, absently plucking a large bucket from beneath the sink. “He wants some water though.”

“Take it in that cup,” Perry replied absently, pointing to a blue and green cup that had octopuses on it. “It’s his favorite.”

“He wants to see you.”

“Newbie, stall him. Jennifer’s almost asleep.”

“Daddy?” Jennifer mumbled against Perry’s shoulder. “Tummy hurts.”

“I know, Jenny,” Perry said so softly and kindly, that JD wasn’t sure it was his voice. “You’ll feel better soon though, Daddy promises.”

“It’ll be easier to keep them both in the same room if they’re both sick,” JD reasoned. “And Jack really wants you to tell him his story.”

Perry clenched his eyes shut, but finally agreed. JD pulled another bowl out for Jennifer just in case, and both walked back to Jack’s room.

Jack was barely awake, but looking as if his stomach was feeling worse again. “Daddy, I don’t feel good,” he whimpered when he saw Perry.

“I know, Jacky. But Janice brought you some water, and I’m going to tell you a story. Jennifer even wants to sleep in your bed with you because she knows you’re strong. Right, Jennifer?” Perry asked.

Jennifer nodded sleepily against his shoulder as Perry gently lay her down beside of Jack.

JD was surveying the books after having lined both bucket and bowl with plastic wrap. “So which story, Jack?”

Jack, however, looked a bit green again. Perry sat him up and gently rubbed his back, struggling to calm his sick son. It seemed to work for a moment, before, with a choking sound, Jack vomited into the bucket.

The noise and smell awoke Jennifer, who screwed her face up. JD immediately sat beside of her, knowing that look from Sammy having spit up so many times. Just as Perry did for Jack, JD did for Jennifer.

When both were done, JD left Perry alone with them as he threw the pyjamas that the children had been wearing into the washer along with their sheets, and rinsed out the bowls. He lined them again with the plastic wrap that had been in a drawer, and headed back to Jack’s room, where the two kids seemed to have drifted off.

Perry set the glass of water on Jack’s nightstand, leaving the lamp on. “He likes his lamp on when he doesn’t feel well,” he said when JD lifted a questioning brow.

“Been checking for dehydration?” JD asked, smoothing Jennifer’s pale brown hair from her face.

“No, Newbie. I wouldn’t have thought to do that,” Perry replied quietly. His voice, however, still dripped and reeked of sarcasm.

“You’re welcome,” JD muttered as he shut Jack’s door quietly. “Where’s Jordan anyway? And don’t you two have a nanny to do this sort of thing?”

“Not when we’re both home in the evenings, you idiot,” Perry grumbled. He pulled two coffee mugs out. “I may be as close to a deity as mortals come, but even I have trouble handling two puking kids who both want their daddy and mommy.” He viciously shoved the coffee pot back into its holder. “Especially when mommy’s out having fun doing god knows what with who knows what.”

JD sighed. He had really hoped Perry didn’t want to go into this. He took the offered cup of coffee, sipping it quietly. It was stale and lukewarm at best.

“So when did they start feeling sick?”

“They both ate dinner like normal. I was just putting them to bed around eight when Jennifer started throwing up. Then Jack was in the bathroom, and I didn’t have time to run between the two of them.”

“You’re not superman,” JD replied. “I have enough trouble juggling Sam, let alone two.”

“Barbie just as weird as she says her mother is?”

JD shrugged, quietly thinking about the fact that said girlfriend’s phone was in his pocket. He wrapped his hands around the coffee mug. “Why’d you call me? Why didn’t you call Carla or your nanny?”

Perry shrugged. “I figured if someone had to get covered in puke, it might as well be you. Cheers.” He tapped JD’s coffee mug with his own.

The two sat in silence after that, lost in their own thoughts.

It was nearly ten minutes later when JD finally fished Elliot’s phone from his pocket. It still glared at him that she had missed his call earlier.

“Elliot’s phone,” JD explained when Perry raised an eyebrow.

“Devious, Newbie. I assume Barbie left it in your care?”

“She forgot it,” JD said quietly. “I thought I’d surf through the texts to see if she’s been chatting with Jordan about whatever crap you’ve dreamed up that she’s doing.”

“Burn me once, shame on you. Burn me twice, shame on me. Live it, learn it, love it.” Perry swiped Elliot’s phone without a second thought, and wrinkled his nose at the hot pink color. “Christ. Tell her that phones are normally used for talking, texting, web-surfing, googling, well…anything but a signal flare.”

JD didn’t mention his phone was a similar shade of blue.

Perry flipped it open and began looking through it.

“How can you just…invade someone’s privacy like that?” JD finally asked. “You’re no better than Janitor, doing stuff like that.”

Perry shrugged unapologetically. “You’d want to know if it were Barbie, Newbie. Don’t pretend like you’re somehow better than the rest of us jerks just because you’re engaging, yet again, in pasty white puberty-sex with your on-again, off-again bestest friend ever.” He turned his attention back to the phone.

JD stood. “Restroom and checking on the kids.”

Perry waved him off. “Don’t steal the silver, Janette.”

JD rolled his eyes and headed down the hallway. He carefully peered in at Jennifer and Jack, who were sound asleep finally. He shut the door and headed into the bathroom to wash his hands and face, and use the facilities.

When he was done, JD headed back to the kitchen, feeling a little more awake and refreshed than he had on the way over. He sat back down at the kitchen table, and looked over at Perry.

What he saw dumbfounded him. Perry’s face was a mix of shock, amusement and cynicism.

“She’s really done it this time, Newbie.”

“What are you even looking at? I already know about the Drunken Blondes movie,” JD replied (and he had bought all the copies he could find just so Elliot would feel better). “I really don’t care about what your wife is doing; doesn’t she do this sort of thing all the time anyway? She even says so herself.”

“You don’t care, huh? Get off your high horse, Newbie.” He threw Elliot’s phone across the table, the phone skidding across the surface and landing in JD’s lap. “Let’s see how much you don’t care.”

JD picked up the phone to look at it. Perry had flipped to the camera thumbnails. The picture he looked at wasn’t that odd, in and of itself. It simply looked as if Jordan and Elliot had gone out for a few drinks, and were having fun ogling frat boys.

That wasn’t weird at all. Jordan had a penchant for them as it was, and JD was beginning to think Jordan was rubbing off on Elliot anyway.

As the pictures progressed, however, it was clear that they weren’t ogling frat boys. The photos changed from them joking at the camera, or making “yes/no” faces at certain men, but to staring at each other.

And then the hugging.

And then came the kissing.

JD’s eyes widened. He shut the camera part down and tapped into the text messages. Most were fairly normal, some were from him, others from Carla or Turk. Some were from a couple of friends from Elliot’s old hospital.

A fair bit, however, were from “Jordaroo”. Some of the messages seemed normal enough “omg did u c per 2day he looked fugly” and other such abbreviations.

Several had abbreviations he didn’t understand, such as “bgfs” and “b182”. JD frowned, flipping through the more emotional ones.

“You can’t possibly think this is true,” JD finally said in flat-out denial.

But when JD looked up, Perry had retreated from the room, nowhere to be found.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

When Jordan awoke the next morning, snuggled under warm covers with Elliot in the bed next to her, it was far too early.

And it was because her phone was whining against the table. Jordan glared at it but flipped it open anyway.

A rock dropped through her stomach, bringing her heart into her chest as if they had been connected by a bungee cord.

It was a text. From Elliot’s phone. From Perry. And they needed to talk.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Okay.

Sun, 23 Aug 2009 04:30:11 GMT

So I feel like I've been avoiding people for quite a while now, and I owe it to those who care about me to update my journal and let everyone know what's going on.

Since the last time I actually spoke to anyone, a lot of things have happened.

Let's start with the biggest. Mr. Elise and I had it out, and I was quite sure I'd be living elsewhere at the moment. However, he was the one who got to forget the next day that we'd had that fight at all.

A week later, I was back in the ER to be stitched up. No use beating about the bush; I'm a very open person. I don't expect sympathy or pity or any of the like; I've been battling a self-injury problem for quite some time.

I brow-beat the doctor into releasing me back into Mr. Elise's care with a firm promise and upfront conversation that I'm not stupid; I wouldn't be back.

Two nights later, I decided it was for the best to voluntarily committ myself to the psychiatric ward at the local hospital, where I spent four days.

Since then, I've been doing far better than I ever could have imagined. I also managed to work my class schedule so that I'm not working any longer with a particular manager who stresses me out.

I've been diagnosed with anxiety and depression, and take daily meds for them. I'm lucky in that my meds are all on the generics, and are safe to take with OTC sleep aids, which my new psychiatrist recommends, as I have quite a bit of trouble sleeping at night. I'm now in monthly therapy, with the option to up my visits with the therapist, and there are plenty of financial options open in order to pay for them.

I am still living with Mr. Elise, but I'm not willing to break up our four-and-half year relationship because of things we could work through. Things are far better now that he's quit drinking and I'm on medications. Go figure. :P

Anyway, I just wanted to post this and also apologize for not updating sooner, as I know friends are worried. I owe you guys much more than that.

So that's the update. Very honest and upfront. I'm doing much better now, and I'm getting ready to go back to school again in the next couple of days. I spend a lot of time at home studying as it is (I took the summer off) and if all goes well, I'll have two degrees this Christmas. I backed off my classload this semester, since I know how stressful the season can be at work.

Thanks to all who have listened to my incessant bitching and whining. I love you guys. :) For now, I've been taking a forced sabbatical from the internet in general. I'm trying to clear my head a little more and also pay more attention to my studies. I'm starting chemistry stuff this fall, and next semester's going to be a veritable biatch of science and math. This semester is all about english and education (Brit Lit I, Foundations in Edu, Chem I and Stats/Analysis) and next semester is planned out to be Chem II, Bio II, Anat II and Pre-Cal, provided that's my next step math-wise.

Thanks again to my besties, Charlotte and Jay. You guys have listened, cared and put up with me. I love you guys, and I hope you're doing well. :)

~Elise~

Fri, 05 Jun 2009 03:42:03 GMT

I can't believe I'm actually using this thing as a real journal, lol. I never set out to do that; I mostly made this account to post fics and what not.

But anyhow. Journals are always so self-involved, I guess. I hate being selfish if I can help it, but that's what journals are for, ne?

So. New stuff. I got new strings for my electric (which I pwned from sis while in FL...it was missing the B string, guh!) but I changed 'em in today...guh, I'm a'FLUFF with happies right now! I forgot how much BETTER I sound on the electric than the acoustic XD Nothing will ever replace my good old acoustic for travel or convenience, but still....ACKERS!

I've been playing new tunes, old tunes, tunes I didn't know that well, tunes I've known forever...jeez, I think I forgot just how much I lurve music XD But I'll probably be making a vid and posting it on youtube or myspace. Be forewarned; I'm a completely mediocre guitar player/singer XD I do it for fun and as a hobby, which means I don't have to give a rat's poop-chute about how I sound :D

In other related music-news, I managed to snag the piano/vocal songbook for WICKED! OMGZ...I know, I'm SO out of date when it comes to music and stuff...but it's new stuff to me :D I just got the musical on CD this past April (courtesy of the mommy, of course) and while the music is...different, it's very remiscent of Jekyll and Hyde or even Les Miserables. Very creative rhyming, very creative lyrics. I wish it'd had a tad more Elphaba though :D (Halloween this year...I'm totally scoring a frumpy black dress and TONS of green make-up...I think I'm in love).

Anyhow, got the songbook for Wicked. Been having LOADS of fun with that. Guh, "No Good Deed" has like...5 flats. "One Short Day" has like...5 sharps XD

And then "For Good" and "Popular" are both in the natural key of C XD Was the composer on crack or did he just want to have fun with key signatures?

So, now adding to my long list of musicals I can play on piano. Between Broadway musicals and movie music, I can keep anyone hyped up for hours I think XD I'm still working on the ultra-neat Narnia theme that sounds very much like some of the Shrek music (it should; I can't quite remember if it's the same composer or if they're just brothers...but either way, it's related). Which is kind of like how I learned the Pirates of the Caribbean theme. The guy who wrote it was a protege of Hans Zimmer, who wrote the music to Gladiator.

Seriously; download "Barbarian Horde" and "He's a Pirate". Almost identical in some places but for a couple of well-placed chords :P

Guh, my band geek is showing XD

Anyhow, yay electric guitar! :D I forgot how good I sound on it vs. the acoustic...even though both have light-gague strings (I know; I'm a wuss :P)

Now, all I have to do is get a real piano in the house and I'll be set for lifers... ;) If my floor would support one and if I had the room XD

When I get to uni, I need to see if ONLY music majors are allowed in the sound-proof practice rooms...WCU has some awesome-pawsome practice rooms.

Anyhow, off to play more music! Later, gators!

-Katy-

Concept idea thingie

Fri, 22 May 2009 03:41:17 GMT

Yes, that's very professional of me :P Thingie.

Anyhow, had a concept fic idea...dunno where I'll go with it or even if I'll do it. But I was listening to some new music that I downloaded while in FL with my family (My mom's got TONS of CD's that she let me bootleg into iTunes and Dory's got tons of CD's that she let me do the same with...lol, they understand my unique music whoreness).

Dammit, it all started with the lyric "Dance, fucker dance".

The song itself made me think immediately of Jordan and JD, which Quaxo will totally get XD How they can both be so manipulative without realizing it and how once the damage is done, they're back in the crowd. Holy shnikes, this could SO be a bad/wrong JD/Jordan ficlet...guh, I don't know.

Anyway, here's the lyrics...if I can get the cut to work.

Show me how to lie
You’re getting better all the time
And turning all against the one
Is an art that’s hard to teach
Another clever word
Sets off an unsuspecting herd
And as you get back into line
A mob jumps to their feet

Now dance, f**ker, dance
Man, he never had a chance
And no one even knew
It was really only you

And now you steal away
Take him out today
Nice work you did
You’re gonna go far, kid

With a thousand lies
And a good disguise
Hit ‘em right between the eyes
Hit ‘em right between the eyes
When you walk away
Nothing more to say
See the lightning in your eyes
See ‘em running for their lives

Slowly out of line
And drifting closer in your sights
So play it out I’m wide awake
It’s a scene about me
There’s something in your way
And now someone is gonna pay
And if you can’t get what you want
Well it’s all because of me

Now dance, f**ker, dance
Man, I never had a chance
And no one even knew
It was really only you

And now you’ll lead the way
Show the light of day
Nice work you did
You’re gonna go far, kid
Trust, deceived!

With a thousand lies
And a good disguise
Hit ‘em right between the eyes
Hit ‘em right between the eyes
When you walk away
Nothing more to say
See the lightning in your eyes
See ‘em running for their lives

Now dance, f**ker, dance
He never had a chance
And no one even knew
It was really only you

So dance, f**ker, dance
I never had a chance
It was really only you

With a thousand lies
And a good disguise
Hit ‘em right between the eyes
Hit ‘em right between the eyes
When you walk away
Nothing more to say
See the lightning in your eyes
See ‘em running for their lives

Clever alibis
Lord of the flies
Hit ‘em right between the eyes
Hit ‘em right between the eyes
When you walk away
Nothing more to say
See the lightning in your eyes
See ‘em running for their lives.
So that's it. I was initially thinking a Jordan or Elliot centric-fic that centered on Elliot learning some manipulative, bitchy ways (ala Their Story), and how Elliot eventually turns on Jordan somehow by seducing Dr. Cox...hrm, still not a bad idea :P

Though the idea just came to me while typing this up of how to work it as a JD/Jordan fic wherein Jordan is still the manipulative processor who doesn't stand so idly to the side as JD gets some kind of mancrush on Dr. Cox...leads to Jordan stepping up her ways by initiating a threesome with Elliot and Dr. Cox just to let JD know where she stands as Queen Bee...

JD would have to do some fancy footwork to get back at her for that, but I'm sure it could be done somehow...what got me is that at the beginning of the song, it's talking about someone who is manipulative and bitchy, and the singer knows that. Even more so near the end when the singer is suddenly the one on the receiving end of that behavior.

I don't know; definitely something to think about. Like I said, don't know. But it's definitely got potential (and I have a little time to pay attention since I'm out for summer break).

Might even log to msn at some point because Quaxo always gives me the bestest ideas ever XD Even if I'm less than coherent while in awe of her twisting skills. Anyhow, catch y'all soon!

Later, gators ^_^

I really just want to tear my hair out.

Mon, 23 Mar 2009 21:43:42 GMT

All the nasty rantsy goodies behind the cut so that people don't have to be bogged down.

I'll try the happy sandwich though, where I start off with good news and then sandwich the bad news in under a cut and end with good news.

So, good news is, I've been doing much better since my episode over Christmas. I won't be specific about any kind of help I'm getting, mostly because I'm not. With the boyfriend out of work and a vacation coming up, I can't afford to put the money anywhere else than the bank box.

But the good news from that is yes, I'm taking a week to see my family. I really miss them and they usually put me in a fairly good mood for a good while. They're also excited to see Mr. Elise and I, though the trip is causing him quite a bit of headache (more in the cut). I'm really looking forward to it ^_^ More good stuff after the cut!

So here's the rant.

Mostly because if I don't, I'm going to go on a drunken spiral of epic proportions and effectively kill my GPA, I'm certain. I really just want to tear my goddamn hair out.

My mom, who uses a business-given credit card, is allowed to keep her bonus points. So she bought me a plane ticket out of the goodness of her heart, and offered to flat-out BUY Mr. Elise a ticket out of her own pocket. We accepted, but now Mr. Elise has decided to become the financial czar of the household since we have to budget carefully. I don't have a problem with ANY of that.

My problem arises from this. I've been busting my ass at work and school full time on each and all that, and my reward for that is when the budget went a few bucks over normal, he's just stressed himself into a horrible, grumpy AWFUL MOOD. It makes me want to fucking CRY because now I'm not only busting my ass at school and work so we can DO this trip but I'm busting my ass trying to make him FEEL better.

And now it's come to this; he just COMPLAINED ABOUT ME DOING THE FUCKING LAUNDRY. He says when I do his laundry, I USE TOO MUCH FUCKING DETERGENT. WHISKEY TANGO FOXTROT!?!?!?!?!!?

I'm so pissed off right now...I'm so angry that I just want to cry. And the part he doesn't know, of course, is that I had a fucking nightmare last night wherein I asked if we could stop so I could buy some deodorant and he yelled at me because that wasn't in the budget and I ended up crying in my sleep anyway. So during my study breaks, I've been researching homemade deodorant recipies. God, I HATE it when he gets like this because it makes me feel so shitty, and I'm trying to quit drinking right now, and THIS ISN'T FUCKING HELPING.
So that's about it for the cut...that's about it for the rant.

I'm just hugely frustrated because I'm trying to do the best I fricking can. Hell, he's not been out of the state in over TEN YEARS, and he LOVES the beach; our past three calendars have been BEACH and ISLAND SCENES, and I'm trying to hold back the surprise that my younger sis (who has a car and license) is going to maybe take us to Cocoa Beach as a double date with her and HER boyfriend.

He just seems so fucking ungrateful right now that my mom just plopped 400 bucks worth of plane tickets on us and is probably going to spring for a few other things while we're down there, not to mention she's letting us stay with her. I'm trying to clean and do the laundry now so it's easier to keep up with until we get picked up on April 11th to drive down with my mom and litle sister. Hell, my mom's even offered him the front seat, his movie choice and she said she'd even buy the dramamine because she knows how he fucking hates car rides.

It just seems so...self-righteous of him >< And him telling me about too much detergent? I'll admit it; I LIKE for my clothes to smell nice, so I use the APROPRIATE, INSTRUCTIONAL-LABED amount of detergent on my clothes, and I use fabric softener. I also do NOT plut bleach on REGULAR CLOTHES, just WHITES. I also don't wash my socks, bras or underwear in the stupid sink with just dish soap. I'm glad he feels okay with that, but when I DID the load that had ALL OF TWO of HIS TEES and all of TWO PAIRS OF FUCKING SOCKS, I didn't even USE fabric softener. I went LIGHT on the fricking liquid detergent (the liquid stuff which I despise; I'm a powder girl) and barely USED more than a few tablespoons of fabric softener, he didn't need to make me feel like shit for trying to do him a favor or make me feel crappy because I'm trying to keep up with the laundry stuff so that we don't have an "OH SHIT, WE'RE LEAVING TOMORROW; OUR CLOTHES ARE DIRTY AND WE HAVEN'T EVEN PACKED" kind of moment. The last thing I want to be doing is wearing dirty clothes or damply clean clothes when my mom picks us up.

Goddamn, this is so fucking frustrating..I just feel so emotionally-drained on what started off as an okay day (once I got to school)...fuck, I debated telling him not to even pick me up until like...three or four this afternoon just so I could hang outside in the beautiful weather at the college and AWAY FROM HIS SORRY-ASS ATTITUDE.
Meh, writing it all out like this made me feel a little better though.

Thus ends the rant to end all rants. I feel a little better :) So, to end the goodnews-badnews-goodnews sandwich, I made the Dean's List last semester. I'm lurving Anatomy and Physiology...I suspect my grade would be better if I hadn't flaked out when it came to the first several homework assignments. But I'm doing a lot better now that I've got my head out of my ass. I've also been sober for several days.

It's kinda nice waking up and realizing I DON'T feel like crap. And this semester, I've only got the four classes, so I'm not feeling as stressed as I did nearing the finals last semester, which is so much better. I've also been cut free for nearly three and a half months. I just passed my axial skeleton practical with FLYING colors, and I'll probably do well on the appendicular skeleton.

Fun stuff. Later, bye!

~Elise~

Public for all to see

Wed, 07 Jan 2009 07:33:28 GMT

I've made this particular entry public so that any and all readers can see why I haven't been around. My friends will also see.

So I started school, was extremely happy about it. School ended, was on the Christmas break. I don't know how, why or when...but things suddenly came to a big, roaring head and I found myself sitting against my car, waiting for the EMT's to arrive to take me to the hospital because I gashed out a deep cut against my wrist in an attempt to kill myself.

I've been absent because Mr. Elise has been attempting to deal with this, and my "best friend" has had things of her own to deal with, as do all of my closest friends. So it comes back down to Mr. Elise, who goes from wanting to help to wanting to pretend it never happened at all, to me, who feels like nothing was ever really solved in the first place.

I'm sorry for my absence; I know this doesn't quite excuse it. I've already discussed handing off the Split Conference Arc to a very amazing writer, and I'm debating on Looking Glass. Insomnia's Aftermath and Heroine can wait; both are "in the moment" fics, which I'm sure I'm capable of dealing with.

Either way, I wanted to apologize to the readers for my extraordinarily long absence and my inexecusable breakdowns. I apologize profoundly, as is there is no excuse for the stupidity I've been stricken with.

Thanks to all; happy readings!

Sun, 09 Nov 2008 09:47:06 GMT

More of the same.

Quick note before work, bleh

Sat, 13 Sep 2008 15:35:51 GMT

So yeah. Getting ready to start up work stuff XD I haven't dropped too many comments recently; only a couple of fic postings from a thing I'm working on.

Anyhow, I started school back in August (a week before public school, fags), pulling up five classes right now. American History is...predictable, so to speak, and been keeping up with that pretty nicely. It's been homework-light, but I've got a buttload of research to be doing for a final group project on the Revolutionary War. I'm also volunteering in a play for a re-enactment about the Mountain Men of Burke County. Before the play, have to do a tour-guide thing and lead people around the old McDowell Plantation nearby our town.

Biology is SOOOO COOLZNITE, zomg, woot. We just finished up the bits about organic chemistry and cell structure; I'm finding it to be a ton more interesting now that I have a very real goal in mind that A) requires me to know this and B) seems so much cooler now that I'm figuring in my head how this adds to medical knowledge. No dissections this semester :( But I will next semester in Biology II. Along with just the Bio class, I'm in the Natural Sciences Club, which is gonna be a ton of fun. We're planning raffling off some "Green Bags" that we're going to fill with eco-friendly cleaning products and other green things to raise money for the club.

We really want to see if a local butcher has a turkey or chicken stomach so we can test the myth if an alkaseltzer will really make it bust ;) Somewhat along the lines of pop rocks/cola, diet coke/mentos, bird stomach/rice (all of which have been busted by either Mythbusters or Snopes.com). But it'll still be cool. Last year, the science club teacher-sponsor nearly blew his thumb off messing with chemistry bombs :P

Western Wold Lit, as predictable, is a breeze. But then again, I used to be an English major, so that probably has a lot to do with it. We've finished up Gilgamesh and the Odyssey, with a comparison/contrast analysis paper coming up with that. Bleh. But it'll be easy, so *shrugs* My teacher, who's from Bulgaria, is really passionate about the works though, which makes the class easy to enjoy :) She's also just really sweet.

And *le gasp* I'm actually understanding math XD I'm just in Intermediate Algebra (remedial :( ) since I'm planning on calculus later. But these are things she's going over that I've like...NEVER understood. So for me to understand it and enjoy doing it is a big deal to me :)

And my last class is Walking for Fitness. It's okay; my teacher's a real health nut. But we tend to go walking before the dew's dried off the grass yet, so yesterday my sneakers were soaked from about 11:15 AM to last night when I got home at 10:30 PM. Ouchies and yuckies.

So far, I've just been massive-crazy-busy with homework and clubs. In Science Club, I got voted as the Student Government Association Representative, which I was more than happy to take :) I'm hoping to run next year as either VP or Secretary. I've got Film and Fine Arts Club coming up, as well as Rotoract (volunteer/community service).

Then I'm also still working. Only about 18 to 25 hours a week (though I'd rather it closer to like...18 hours or so, which is what I told my manager, but she doesn't seem to be listening). Besides, as long as I can study here and there while I'm at work, I'm fine.

Which all of this would be so much easier if the CV joint on my driver's side axle hadn't gone out Thursday XD So my car's busted again...I'm seriously giving it some thought to just replace it :( But it depends on what Dave thinks too, since he'll probably have to help out with the repairs.

My pell check (whatever I didn't use) comes back in about a week though, so hopefully, that'll help out massively.

Anyhow, gotta go get ready for work XD Next chapter of His Insomnia's Aftermath ought to be up in the next few days...I'll probably do my studying at work, come home, write and study more tomorrow.

Next chapter, if anyone's interested, is "My Late Apology" (working title), based on the song "Noots" by Sum-41. The following Jorliot chapter should be "Her Loving Lies", on the song "Your Love is a Lie" by Simple Plan.

So yeah. Gotta go get ready for work ^_^ Later days :)

Chapter Two: His Insomnia's Aftermath

Tue, 09 Sep 2008 00:35:33 GMT

Title of Series: His Insomnia’s Aftermath

Chapter Title: Her Silly Rumor

Author: Elise Davidson

Rating: MA eventually, PG-12 for this installment

Pairings: JD/Cox, Jordan/Elliot

Warnings: Slash, Het, Femmeslash, Angst

Chapter: 2 of 20

Author’s Notes: I apologize beforehand for chapter/story title discrepancies. The name of the story is His Insomnia’s Aftermath, as it was Perry’s bout with dreams that started everything else.

I apologize for the long time; quicker than most of my updates, right? But again, school’s been rearing its very ugly head this semester; I’ve a lot I should’ve done tonight, but this one’s been in my head all day. Now that I have a clue as to what I’m doing with Jordan and Elliot, they should be easier to write.

Well, ‘nuff said. Hope you enjoy!

Shout Out:

Title of Series: His Insomnia’s Aftermath
Chapter Title: Her Silly Rumor
Author: Elise Davidson
Rating: MA eventually, PG-12 for this installment
Pairings: JD/Cox, Jordan/Elliot
Warnings: Slash, Het, Femmeslash, Angst
Chapter: 2 of 20
Author’s Notes: I apologize beforehand for chapter/story title discrepancies. The name of the story is His Insomnia’s Aftermath, as it was Perry’s bout with dreams that started everything else.
I apologize for the long time; quicker than most of my updates, right? But again, school’s been rearing its very ugly head this semester; I’ve a lot I should’ve done tonight, but this one’s been in my head all day. Now that I have a clue as to what I’m doing with Jordan and Elliot, they should be easier to write.
Well, ‘nuff said. Hope you enjoy!
Shout Out:
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Chapter Two: Her Silly Rumor
Rain pattered quietly against the window, washing away the stickiness of the humidity. Cool, dry air replaced it, making it feel more like winter than spring.
Jordan hated cold weather. She frowned in her office, tapping a pencil restlessly and thoughtfully in front of her. Something was niggling at the back of her mind, and the coolish, rainy weather only made her more introspective.
Of course, she hated being introspective as well. Thinking about an issue wasn’t her style; doing something about it was closer.
Jordan leaned back in her chair. Perry had been as jumpy as a baby kitten lately, and twice as clingy. The symptoms were familiar, that was for damn sure, but some were missing all together.
After all, Per-bear hadn’t been working any later than usual. He didn’t smell heavily of cologne (which he classically used to cover up a perfume), and he’d finally started sleeping again (for which Jordan was extremely grateful; his tossing, turning and early waking had begun to intrude upon her own solid 7 hours a night).
Jordan couldn’t really tell if his mood had improved because of gained sleep or the affair, however. Hell, she wasn’t even sure he was having an affair.
Blowing a piece of hair out of her eyes, Jordan threw her pencil down. Honestly, Per-bear was worse than a girl sometimes, sending out mixed signals and never saying anything directly.
Jordan finally whisked her suit-jacket off the back of her chair. Hell, she’d just ask him.
Feeling much better about the situation on the whole, an easy smirk slipped onto her face. This was more like it; the direct approach had always worked before, and it would again.
Jordan Sullivan, after all, was no fool, and she sure as hell wasn’t going to start now. She exited her office, locking the door securely behind her, and started easily down the hallway.
Fool or not, she wasn’t going to look a damn thing like Blonde Stick did when a purpose was in mind.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Elliot haphazardly tied her hair from her eyes, despite the fact she’d spent meticulous time getting it to wave perfectly this morning. It wasn’t often that she absolutely had to get it out of her eyes anymore, but this was definitely one of those times.
Hell if she knew where JD had run off to; he seemed to simply be avoiding everyone but Turk or Carla at this point. She couldn’t pinpoint his attitude, but, too busy with potential wedding plans with Keith, Elliot had dismissed it.
Her patient’s code had been unexpected, even if Elliot was far gone from the days of desperately trying to prove herself to anyone who would stand within a five-mile radius of her. The man was fairly old, after all, and recovering from open-heart surgery. She would have been surprised if he hadn’t coded.
Elliot was still disappointed when he died. She sighed as she removed her gloves, glaring out the door as she wondered just where JD or even Dr. Cox had disappeared to.
The doubt arose immediately in her mind from habit of the years that maybe if one of them had been around, the man would have lived.
Elliot took her hair back down, running her fingers quickly through it. She winced when the strands caught on her nails, pain bringing her back a little to the reality of the situation.
Carla maneuvered a chart to its slot, and looked up as Elliot approached. "Didn’t make it?" she asked, recognizing the vaguely disappointed look on Elliot’s face.
"He should have," Elliot muttered, straightening her lab coat. "Maybe he would have if the fricking on-call resident attending and attending residency director had been here!"
Her emphasis didn’t pull either one out of the wood work. Elliot glanced back to Carla.
"Where’s JD? I thought he was on the schedule today too."
Carla snorted derisively. "He is, Elliot. I’ve seen him around here and there; he just finished up with Mrs. Reynolds’s history."
Elliot looked vaguely towards the beds, though she hadn’t the faintest idea as to where Mrs. Reynolds was. There was still no sign of JD. She glanced back at Carla, only to note a slightly-knowing look on the nurse’s face.
"Okay, what do you know?" Elliot asked, leaning over the counter.
Carla waved an admonishing finger at Elliot. "I don’t gossip anymore, Elliot; you know that."
Elliot rolled her eyes. "Yeah. Right. Come on, what’s going on?"
Carla looked around for a moment before standing up to speak with Elliot quietly.
A few moments later, Elliot’s eyes widened almost comically. "No!"
"I just tell what I’ve heard."
"There’s no way."
"Well, it’s not just what I’ve heard; it’s what I’ve seen."
"What do you mean?"
"Elliot, they haven’t been in the same room together for months."
"Really?"
"You really haven’t been paying much attention, have you?"
"Kilbasa."
It was Carla’s eyes that widened this time, and she twisted Elliot through her lab coat. "Too mean!"
Elliot yelped. "Ouch, too hard!"
"Aw, love taps getting too hard for you now?" Jordan asked briskly as she rounded the corner. "Stick, you’re gonna have to lose that baby-skin of yours if you ever want to get any better in the sack than what you were in college."
Elliot rolled her eyes. "Heard it, tried it, got better."
Jordan raised an eyebrow. "TMI, Stick, but it sounds interesting." She yawned a moment. "Never mind, I lied. So, what’s the hot gossip, ladies?"
Carla twitched as she glared at Elliot. "Ask her; I’ve got work to do."
Elliot felt color creeping into her cheeks as Jordan looped an arm through hers and began leading her out of the ICU and into the narrow corridors.
Jordan glanced distastefully at the dingy walls. "Someone really ought to clean those up," she muttered, and then turned back to Elliot. "So, Stick. Fill me in."
Janitor, whenever Blonde Doctor was around, always made it a point to watch her at least a little. Even if they didn’t have little children who were, admittedly, probably not theirs as Janitor had a small hook-up to free kids, Blonde Doctor still treated him like a real person.
The demon lady beside of her, however, he had no such attachments to. He frowned at the comment, and even the nervous, frightened gaze on Blonde Doctor’s face.
Maybe he could switch targets a while.
Jordan swung the corner, arm interlocked tightly with Elliot’s enough that the blonde girl couldn’t have yanked off even if she tried hard.
The easy smile remained on Jordan’s face as she steered them toward her office. Once they were inside however, her features melted into an accusing stare that made Elliot feel quite like she used to whenever her mother was in the general vicinity.
"I don’t know anything!" Elliot snapped. "I thought we’d gotten past this whole thing where you-"
"Blah, blah, high school sucked, blah, blah," Jordan cut her off. "Sweetie, you’re gonna have to learn to grow a backbone." She gave a long sweep up and down Elliot’s figure. "Though lowering your vocal pitch might help too." She crossed her arms firmly, hating that she had to work this hard just to get information out of Elliot.
Since when had Blonde Stick actually stood up to her? Well, sure, they’d broached a tentative friendship over the past few years, but it wasn’t like they actually hung out together.
Though they’d had a romping good conversation about JD’s techniques in bed.
Jordan kept her gaze steady, watching as red slowly creeped into Elliot’s cheeks and the younger woman started to fidget. Simply biding her time, Jordan only remained still and kept staring.
Elliot felt her gaze flickering from Jordan to the right and then to the left. Steady, even gazes tended to unnerve her, especially when someone seemed to know she was lying.
Jordan cocked her head to the side, quirking one eyebrow up. "You have somewhere you need to be?"
Elliot remained silent.
Sighing, Jordan fell back on old habits. They had always worked so well in the past.
Jordan carefully approached Elliot, making sure her movements were slow and deliberate, as if to let the blonde woman know what she was doing.
"Now look, stick, I don’t know who you’re pretending to protect, but I’m not going to stand for it. So if you’ll kindly spill whatever the nurse’s mouth blabbed to you, I’ll be most appreciative." Jordan made sure then to invade as much of Elliot’s personal space as she could, her shoulders and breasts nearly touching the other woman’s.
Elliot’s hand suddenly shot to her neck, as if to reach for something. She stuttered for a moment before blurting out something in a very quick, high-pitched tone.
"What was that?" Jordan asked, blinking in surprise. Surprise didn’t come easy to her, and when it did, she regularly found herself off guard.
Elliot’s eyes were wider than Jordan had seen them in a long time. "I still have a rape whistle, and I swear to god I’ll blow it louder than anything you’ve ever heard if you…" She trailed off almost pitifully, as if she were afraid to say anything else.
Jordan rolled her eyes then, struggling to remain composed and easy-going. "Oh, Christ, Stick…would you let up with the rape-whistle already? Give me the goods and you can be on your merry, skinny way."
Elliot’s hand remained near her neck, fingers holding her flimsy, teal blouse with fingers that suddenly seemed to twitch in a very old habit of circulation.
"I’m not telling you."
"Well, somebody will tell someone, but you’re hearing it hot. I want to know what it is. You wouldn’t be so coy if it didn’t have something to do with dear little Per-bear or DJ. Since it can’t be about little baby spice, then it must be about Perry, so spill."
Elliot’s face went completely red then, and Jordan’s easy gaze slipped away. It was difficult for Elliot to tell because the change was so imperceptible, but Elliot was still, first and foremost, a doctor.
And, as a doctor, she watched as some of the color seemed to melt from Jordan’s face. The look didn’t.
Jordan rolled her eyes. "Sweetie, you’ve got to do better than that if you’re ever going to be one of the grown-up girls around here." She didn’t move herself from Elliot’s personal bubble, but noted with vaguely concealed interest that Elliot’s hands continued to flex.
"I don’t know anything, and you’re making me uncomfortable," Elliot finally burst out, wincing when she realized how loud her voice had been. She finally let her hand drop and stepped away, as if she had suddenly noticed that she could move away too. "And it’s very unprofessional of you to ask me."
Jordan didn’t seem fazed, but then again, she hardly ever was. "Oh please, Stick," she said with a dismissing wave of her hand. "You had your nose so far up Carla’s ass for the hot gossip that you could probably taste whatever she had for dinner."
Elliot’s nose wrinkled. "That’s just…gross. If you’ll excuse me, I have patients."
Jordan frowned at the high-handed tone. She hadn’t taught Stick that; she had no right to use it with her.
Elliot went for the door, struggling not to look like a caged animal who had just found the exit. She went for the handle, screaming victory for once against the resident devil of the hospital, but as she went to pull it, Jordan slammed her fist against it and managed to shove her foot to the bottom as well.
"You’re not leaving this room until I’m satisfied."
Elliot sent her a withering stare. She had patients to take care of if she wanted to leave by 5:30, and besides, why the hell was she protecting Jordan’s nonexistent feelings anyway?
"Fine, you want to know?" Elliot finally said. She either ignored or didn’t see the slap of surprise against Jordan’s face at the snippy tone.
"That’s why I’m holding the door shut. I can see why Perry calls you Barbie."
"Carla said that she heard from Nurse Tisdale who overheard Laverne telling Dr. Lewis from Pediatrics that-"
"Spit it out."
Elliot shifted, and finally stepped back from the door. "Somebody told me that they saw Perry tearing out of the break room like a bat out of hell, and when JD came out later, he looked like someone had either punched him or shocked him. You do the math." Elliot looked pointedly at the door. "Can I please go now, Ms. Sullivan?"
Jordan looked at her for a long moment and finally let go of the door. "Drinks later, dear? We must do this again."
Elliot glared at the sarcasm, but knew that Jordan was seriously asking her for drinks. "If you must."
Jordan rolled her eyes. "Scram." She turned away, obviously deigning the conversation over.
Elliot seethed; she had been so close to winning a stupid argument, and now she felt guilt clawing at her for the completely unemotional look on Jordan’s features as the woman sat down at her desk to work on something that Elliot was pretty sure didn’t exist.
Elliot approached her slowly, knowing that when coming near a very angry dog, it was best to walk quietly.
"Jordan, it’s just a rumor. You know Perry; he probably just punched the hell out of him."
Jordan looked up. "Christ, Stick…I said scram. When I need a gal-pal, I’ll let you know."
"Friends listen to each other."
"Aw, sweetie…and you haven’t even bought me dinner yet," Jordan snapped and stood up again. "What part of scram didn’t you understand? Unless you’re about to reveal that DJ really was your first, I’m not interested."
The hurtful remark did the trick, and Elliot blew a piece of hair from her face. "Fine. Sit here and wallow till you rot." She spun on her heel and slammed the door behind her.
Jordan rolled her eyes and sat back down. When she was sure the door was locked, she ran a hand through her hair as thoughts streamed through her mind.
Oddly enough, getting the information hadn’t angered her much. Of course, it was annoying that Perry had finally grown a pair and proved he didn’t have girl-parts.
What Jordan couldn’t figure out for the life of her was why she’d had far too much fun trying to wrangle it from Elliot in the first place.
Now that, on the other hand, was both intolerable and infuriating.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Perry did work late this time, Jordan noticed. He had even called and told her not to wait up. She did anyway, of course, just like she always did.
It was only eight PM as it was. Having thought she would be talking this out with Perry, Jordan had offered Jack up to her mother for the night. It had the added bonus of making Perry mad or saying something funny about her mother.
Both of which would make her laugh.
Jordan ticked her fingers on her knee in thought. She’d offered drinks up with Elliot, but since the episode in the office, she had opted instead to wait for Perry.
But now that there was no Perry, it would be just be weird if she didn’t get trashed to some extent.
Jordan rolled her eyes at the indecisiveness running through her, and finally decided to go to the bar. It wouldn’t be the first time she’d ever drank alone if Elliot wasn’t there, and it wasn’t going to make or break her night either.
With a sigh (one which if anyone in the near vicinity had heard it, would’ve taken the classic double-take in wonder if that had actually been Jordan or not) that was both weary and indecisive, Jordan finally checked her hair and exited the apartment.
Jordan hated surprises.
So she pushed it down when she saw Elliot sitting at a table near the darker end of the bar, drinking something that looked suspiciously bright. Sitting beside of her was a glass of gin and tonic that had barely started condensing water on its edge.
Jordan sat down breezily, determined to keep this light. "So, stranger. Waiting for me, huh?"
Elliot didn’t splutter like she used to. She did, however, give Jordan a cool look that Jordan recognized as being one she effected all the time.
Jordan hated that she’d seemed to have taught Elliot everything she knew.
"If you’re going to drink, do it."
Jordan wasn’t stupid; she recognized the grief in Elliot’s face and the way her hands were all too steady. She’d seen Perry bring it home enough to know it meant the blonde had simply had a bad day after the office.
"I don’t take kindly to orders, but since you’re private practice with a much fatter bank roll than Perry, I’ll take you up on it." Jordan tipped some of the wintery-tasting gin down her throat.
Jordan loved pine trees, though she’d never tell anyone it was why she chose gin half the time.
"Are you okay?" Elliot finally asked after a moment, looking at Jordan’s face carefully with a doctor’s calculating gaze.
Jordan waved a hand. "Quit trying to psychoanalyze me, Stick. I don’t need your advice or your pity."
Elliot glared at her again, and Jordan wondered when Elliot had stopped being that frightened, mousy-haired little girl that was barely a blip on anyone’s radar.
Tossing her hair almost regally over her shoulder, Elliot settled her chin on a hand. "You could probably go for some counseling, but god knows you’d bite the guy before he had a chance to tell you what your problem is."
Jordan narrowed her eyes, and if Perry had been in the room, he would have begun to yell about getting away before the demon performed the rare corpse explosion that tended to decimate all within a one meter radius.
"I came out for drinks; I didn’t come here to be insulted by someone who’s still too pathetic to realize what she really wants," Jordan snapped back.
Elliot reeled in the hurt quickly, but not fast enough for Jordan to miss the strike of hurt that flashed across her features.
"I came out here to be your friend," Elliot finally tried, but wasn’t brave enough to reach for her hand. "Rumor or not, it makes for a bitchy introspection. You and Perry don’t exactly have the best track record."
Jordan felt the urge now to make the blonde nervous; it was unnerving to talk about (blech) feelings. She stared at Elliot for a minute, fingers wiping the cool drops of water from the half-empty glass before her.
"I’m not one to let a rumor kill my buzz, Stick," Jordan informed her finally, and tipped the rest of her glass down her throat. Cold liquid ran down her throat, no burn registering from the piney taste. "Besides, let Per-bear have his little boy-toy. I’m ready to roll onto somewhere new."
Elliot’s head shot up, and her hands remained firmly on the table around her glass of bright, mixed drink-alcohol. She stared at Jordan in a calculating fashion that was all too familiar to Jordan herself, who had seen it in Perry’s eyes and even DJ’s a time or two.
"No way." Elliot stood then and slapped a few bills on the table. Her hands felt cold again. She didn’t resist the urge this time to clench and unclench them in an old, horrible habit that she hated as she stood to leave.
Jordan quirked an eyebrow at the movement of Elliot’s fists, and shot a hand out to snatch Elliot’s wrist.
Elliot whirled around, sitting back down with an undignified thump that only made her palms colder. She raised calm eyes to Jordan, whose face wasn’t holding its usual mean scowl or its tight features.
"Come on, Stick. You can’t be that much of a prude."
"What about-"
Jordan waved a hand. "If all you’re going to do is moan out your cutie boyfriend’s name while I’m making you see God, this ends now."
Nerves on edge for reasons Jordan hated, she felt Elliot’s muscles flex under her fingers. She wasn’t sure why it suddenly mattered so much that she come out of this being in control.
Jordan swore it was because she wanted to get back at Perry for any rumor she’d ever heard about him. What better way to get back at him then to sleep with one of the more attractive women in the hospital?
And it wasn’t the first time Jordan had swung that way, though God knew she was out of practice since Jack had been born.
Elliot still stared at her, but she hadn’t risen again yet. "You’re serious, aren’t you?"
Jordan threw her wrist down then, and now it was she that stood to leave. "You’re obviously going to turn this into some stupid, high school, immature, drama-hour that I really want nothing to do with. Go play it out with DJ or Nurse Tisdale." She turned sharply to go outside and find a different bar.
Well, a different zip code.
Jordan hated it when the cool air outside stung her red cheeks. Jordan Sullivan did not blush, nor did she get embarrassed.
She stood outside her car for a moment, hand on the window, feeling as if nothing had gone according to plan. Hell, she didn’t even know why she’d brought it up in the first place, but she did know it had nothing to do with Perry.
Jordan jumped when a very cold hand grabbed her hand, and whirled with her purse ready.
Unfortunately, it managed to whack Elliot right in the shoulder.
"Frick a brick on a stick!" Elliot punched out in a frequency that Jordan was certain only females and dolphins could hear.
"What the hell do you want, Stick?" Jordan snarled at her, hating that Elliot had gotten to her at all.
What she needed as a good drink the size of her head and a happy pill, Jordan found herself thinking in her head. Anything to forget this night all together.
Elliot was still staring at her, and the paler woman’s hand was icy on her skin. Her fingers were moving reflexively, and Jordan wondered if that simply a nervous habit now.
"I’m waiting, and I really have other places to be." Jordan peeled Elliot’s hand off of her wrist slowly and deliberately. "And other, far more cooler people to be hanging out with, though I’ve a need to point out your hands are like ice blocks."
Elliot looked down at her hands suddenly, and the look of wide-eyed terror that flitted almost instantly over her features was gone just as quickly.
Jordan wondered if she’d seen it at all, since Elliot was now staring at her in a cool fashion that made Jordan feel as if she were staring in the mirror.
Jordan didn’t know later why she did it. Maybe it was the uncertainty that had briefly crossed Elliot’s face, or maybe it was just the difference between how Elliot seemed insanely calm in feature but not in her hands.
Either way, Jordan snagged a hold of Elliot’s blouse, and pulled her close for a minute. It was close enough that their lips nearly touched, and breath puffed between them in small clouds of hot air.
The look stayed on Elliot’s face as Jordan hated herself for the million ways this had absolutely nothing to do with Perry, and how it had everything to do with knowing that she felt something in a place she hadn’t scrutinized in a very long time.
Elliot’s lips were cold too, Jordan thought dimly as she suddenly kissed the younger woman, hands coming up to wrap into Elliot’s hair.
Elliot jerked back first, surprise and something more crossing her face. "What’d you do that for?"
Jordan felt something shift as she watched Elliot’s labored breathing. "Because I felt like it, Stick. Ready to drink now or do I have to give you a class ring so you’ll go steady with me?"
Elliot stared at her for a minute, and Jordan wondered if Elliot was about to scream again.
Instead, the horribly aloof, almost disinterested look settled on Elliot’s features again, and she nodded towards her car.
"Your place or mine?"
Jordan wasn’t sure how she got herself into this, but she knew she sure as hell didn’t want to find her way back out. Not even when Elliot’s lips were warm again, though her fingers remained cold. She opted to stay just as lost when her cell phone went off while Elliot pulled her shirt off, and she hated it when she threw the offending phone back to the ground.
Perry’s number had been flashing across the screen, but Jordan wasn’t sure it mattered that much.
Jordan hated it much more later, when they lay in Elliot’s feathery bed that smelled strongly of some masculine cologne that she assumed must be Keith. She crossed her arms firmly over her chest as Elliot slept.
With resignations, Jordan began to dress again, deciding this had been a horrible idea from the start.
"Where’re you going?" a sleepy voice filtered through the darkness.
Unfamiliar all together with Elliot’s room, Jordan felt her knee connect with something and she swore out loud as she thumped back to the bed.
Elliot’s arms immediately wrapped around her as the younger fell back asleep.
Jordan made it a rule all together to never sleep after sex with a one-night-stand. It often got in the way of what she had one-night-stands for in the first place.
Jordan looked down at Elliot’s face, where make-up had begun to fade and a little bit of the younger woman Jordan had once known began to shine through.
Sighing, Jordan eased herself back on the bed. She was too buzzed anyway, and too sleepy to really care anymore.
It didn’t stop her from trying to use Perry as an excuse for why she’d done it in the first place.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Jordan was grateful the next morning that Elliot was an insanely heavier sleeper. She gathered her things quietly, cursing herself nine ways to hell and back for staying the night in the first place. Her phone was showing several missed calls, all from Perry.
Ignoring them once more, Jordan rummaged on the bedroom floor for her shirt. Christ, Stick couldn’t thrown it that hard, could she?
Jordan’s head snapped up when she heard the front door open and shut to the apartment. She looked around quickly and desperately, and finally snagged her shirt from the small chair in the corner of the room.
No sooner then she’d pulled it over her head then did Keith enter the room.
"Ms. Sullivan? What are you doing here?"
Jordan hoped her hair didn’t look too disheveled. "Your girlfriend got trashed last night. I thought I’d wait around here and see if you were up for a quickie."
A surge of calm wove through her as Keith turned red and stuttered a no.
Jordan shrugged. "That’s okay, sweetie. Maybe later." She walked calmly out of the room, then the apartment, and bolted like the wrath of god was on her heels to her car.
Sitting in her front seat, Jordan glared at her steering wheel. This just…wasn’t happening.
Seriously. This just could not be happening.
Jordan sighed deeply, and drove away from the building. It was happening. She just had to accept it, fling it out, move on and get her bearings.
The car growled as she shifted the gears. That should be easy.
XXXXXXXXXXXXX
Jordan came to work 2 hours late that day, staring down anyone who dared to mention it. She got to her office door with a relieved feeling in her body, as her face refused to show anything had happened the previous night at all.
Head pounding and stomach churning from hangover, Jordan wrapped her fingers around the doorknob to her office, her other hand turning the key. The door swung open blissfully, and Jordan made to enter the room, hand coming from the doorknob to shut it.
Jordan jerked back, and suddenly realized her hand wasn’t moving. She looked down in fury to realize her hand was completely stuck to the doorknob.
"What the fu-"
A tall man that Jordan barely recognized pushed a mop by her door. "Paint’s wet," he said, as if it were obvious.
"Then where’s the sign, idiot?"
Janitor looked at the door to Ms. Sullivan’s office. "I must’ve forgotten to put it up. Just stay right there; I’ll get some turpentine." He whistled as he moseyed down the hallway, mop brushing cheerily against the floor.
Jordan glared after him; her phone was too far to reach from her point at the door. She resisted the urge to scream as she began to flag someone down from the hallway.
Janitor whistled through his lips, grin making the whistle sound shrill and faint.
No one messed with Blonde Doctor.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Author’s Notes: Gah, can’t believe I forgot to mention this. The mini-table of 20 prompts are based on songs of my own choosing. Yes, they’re very emo. Yes, probably out of character for the people themselves (with the possible exceptions of JD or Turk). But meh, I felt they fit for each one.
As such, Chapter One was "It Just Won’t Quit" by Meatloaf. Chapter Two here is "Somebody Told Me" by the Killers. I hope things make more sense now; I’ll try and remember to post the song it’s based on as I write.
Thanks, and I hope you enjoyed!
To Quaxo, aka MostePotente, for one of the final scenes. Go read her JD/Cox Discovery table! It’s amazingly written, and very amusing/touching to read. Good stuff. Anyhow, I based one of those final scenes off of her first prompt. It’s not word-for-word, but she deserves the shout-out muchly because her JD/Cox table is just so damn cute! Lurve you, C-dawg!To Quaxo, aka MostePotente, for one of the final scenes. Go read her JD/Cox Discovery table! It’s amazingly written, and very amusing/touching to read. Good stuff. Anyhow, I based one of those final scenes off of her first prompt. It’s not word-for-word, but she deserves the shout-out muchly because her JD/Cox table is just so damn cute! Lurve you, C-dawg!

His Insomnia's Aftermath

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 04:37:22 GMT

Mostly because I've been too busy to write much else...thought I'd go ahead and post this; see what happens, bler.

Title of Series: Their Untold Story

Author: Elise Davidson

Rating: MA eventually, PG-12 for this installment

Pairings: JD/Cox, Jordan/Elliot

Warnings: Slash, Het, Femmeslash, Angst

Chapter: 1 of 20

Author’s Notes: Something to distract until I have more time…I’m a Senator that represents the Science Club to the Student Government Association, participating in the Film and Fine Arts Club, my usual 5 classes plus work…I’m working as quickly as I can without letting my grades suffer.

Right now, this about the only thing I can offer up until I have more time to work on other things. I’m sorry, folks…but school, clubs, associations and work are taking up far more of time than I’d originally thought.

Another note is that this is a series. 20 chapters; a mini-table of sorts. I’m going to try and do every other chapter by pairing; this one is JD/Cox. The next should be Jordan/Elliot. Thanks in advance!

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

01. His Insomnia’s Aftermath

The humid night had brought with it a steamy fog that stuck to everything, making cool temperatures just as miserable as warmer ones would’ve been. It could have been a pleasant night, if the sky hadn’t been begging to rain.

As it was, the stars were hidden by purple haze in the sky.

It only served to keep Perry awake further. Very rarely, the thickness of the one-season year in California nearly made him miss Pennsylvania.

Nearly.

The sheets were tangled and not on his body, though Jordan slept soundly beside of him, curled under the blankets as if the weather were normal. Perry didn’t understand at all how she could sleep, but then again, he wondered too if the truly evil ever really slept.

The clock warned him cheerily with red numbers that he only had a couple of more hours before he had to start moving around.

Perry frowned. There was the reason sleep was eluding him in the first place. Hell, he hadn’t even really slept in weeks, not since the first dream.

It had startled him more than anything at first, and had even made him angry later. Anger and shock were easier to register and comprehend than fear and confusion.

Yeah. He definitely preferred the former of the four.

Perry had chucked it up to stress, both from work and home. It was plausible to think dreams were often just manifestations of the day’s unfinished business after all, and no shrink would ever convince him otherwise.

Prophetic dreams were right on up there with God in his book.

But then a second dream had come, followed by a third.

After the fourth, Perry had taken a shot of cough syrup bigger than Jack’s sippy cup, and he’d even considered using one of them to sip it through. All it had done, however, was give him a dull, constant headache (which hadn’t left in days) and a filmy, bad taste in his mouth.

After the fifth dream, Perry had decided to forgo sleep as much as possible. Lack of it now made him extremely irritable (at least, more so than usual), very edgy and feeling as if he had the flu.

It wasn’t uncommon for Perry to dream about someone, especially if that someone were both very hot and very annoying.

Dr. Miller, for example, still smoldered in the back of his mind like sexy little embers of pleasure, no matter how long she’d been gone.

Which didn’t explain why in forty hells he’d ever have any kind of dream (let alone that kind) about a stupid, girly, whiny, fresh-faced attending whom Perry barely deemed necessary to ever call by a real name.

And if it hadn’t been for a series of unforeseen events, Perry wouldn’t have thought of him at all. Ever.

It had all really started with those godforsaken man-cards.

And between those, Mrs. Wilk, Crazy-Tracy, a time-period that Perry tended to just block from memory and that stupid, no-name urologist, it was enough to make Perry actually consider the kid as a friend.

Perry nearly choked on the word even as he thought about it, earning him a swat from Jordan, followed by an angry, sleepy mutter. A small whoosh of air escaped his mouth and he gently rubbed her shoulder to soothe her back to sleep.

His mind drifted back as to why he couldn’t just drug him himself with cough syrup or alcohol to get rid of the dreams. Sure, he considered the kid a…tolerable acquaintance, but not a friend.

Hell, Perry didn’t have any friends. And even if it he did (which he wasn’t admitting to having or not having), he’d never dream about them.

Let alone dream about them like that.

Perry rubbed his hands over his face before he dropped an easy, careless kiss to Jordan’s head. She mumbled, swatting at him once more.

Perry had already moved to the kitchen to start the coffee, giving up on sleeping. He hadn’t been able to get a true second of peace since he’d stopped sleeping as much, and it was even more annoying that he didn’t even know what it meant or why.

Perry sighed as he inhaled the coffee, and then reluctantly acknowledged the dull ache in his head as well as the sleepless taste in his mouth. It gave him an overall feeling of being under the weather.

The coffeemaker burbled at him merrily, reminding Perry that caffeine-filled, coffee-goodness was on the way.

Maybe it was all nothing; he must’ve just picked up a virus at work. He’d only gotten sick, after all, because he hadn’t been sleeping properly in weeks, and he hadn’t been sleeping because of the stress from the past year.

Perry poured the first cup of coffee, just as soon as it had finished brewing. The thought occurred to him (not for the first time) that maybe he should bring it up the next time he saw one of his shrinks.

No sooner had he thought it, however, did the coffee catch in his throat and nasal passage as he snorted derisively.

He might as well see a witch doctor or shaman; either would be just as effective.

Perry sighed, bending his head over his clasped hands. Something had obviously changed between he and JD, and as soon as he’d thought the name, one of the more vivid dreams came back.

Perry’s face immediately pulled into an angry sneer, and he shifted in his seat.

Where in god’s name had any of this come from?

Pouring a second cup of coffee when he was done with the first, Perry still hadn’t figured out an answer to the question. He headed for the shower instead, struggling steadfastly to force the images from his sleep-deprived mind.

He insisted later that he’d taken a cold shower because he needed to wake up, not because his entire body felt like it was on fire. He would swear later that it was Coffee-Nurse he’d been thinking of when the cold shower did nothing to abate the course of arousal running a muck through his nerves.

Perry scrubbed a hand over his face, feeling strangely disoriented and even a little angry when he opened the door to leave for his shift at the hospital.

Whatever it was, it just wouldn’t quit.

When he saw JD wave at him in the coffee shop, he fought the color from his face through sheer force of will and sped directly past him.

Perry wondered if he’d ever sleep for more than a few minutes at a time again.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

JD never pouted. Ever. And if he did, it wasn’t a pout; it was a very manly sulk.

Very manly. And he wasn’t even sulking (or pouting) in the first place. Even if he was (and he wasn’t admitting he was, thanks muchsies), he had every right to.

Well, JD supposed the entire party of people wearing the "Welcome Back, Coxer" tee-shirts was still too fresh in Dr. Cox’s memory.

JD frowned as he sipped his caramel-chocolate macchiato (which he had written macho on the side just to make sure people knew it wasn’t a girl’s drink) and waited for Kim to show up.

His plan had been brilliant; there was no way she’d ever leave him now.

Still, another part of him felt terrified at that prospect; even a little agitated at times. Everything had happened so quickly, everything all at once…yet still seemed to last forever at times.

JD scowled at his coffee. Lasting forever had sounded so positive a moment ago, and now he found himself thinking negatively of it. He didn’t know when things had so suddenly and so frighteningly stopped being so easy here and there. He hadn’t been sure at all about how to feel about the baby at first, but after he’d gotten used to the idea, it had seemed awesome, even…

Hopeful.

He was somewhat understanding of Perry blowing him off then; Perry was only skeptical, and JD needed all of the positive feelings he could get right now just to keep him excited.

JD sighed, fingers tapping now on the side of his cup in a nervous gesture he hadn’t done in years. He was going to need some advice eventually, and Turk was still too busy with brand-new Izzy to really be able to offer it.

Not to mention Carla had just begun her anti-postpartum-depressant regime.

JD barely saw Turk sit down in front of him, but it interrupted his train of thought enough for him to look up and distract.

Dr. Cox eventually came back in for his own coffee as they talked, and JD was certain the man desperately needed that shot of caffeine.

Especially if the older man’s appearance was any indication.

"Hey, Dr. Cox!" JD finally called out hopefully.

"No, oh no, no, no," Perry snapped out before JD could continue, his voice edgily angry. "I don’t want to be a bridesmaid at your big, fat, gay civil union." He turned away with his lab coat swishing peevishly.

Turk rolled his eyes. "So anyway…have you talked to Kim yet? How’s the plan working out?"

JD wagged an admonishing finger. "She has to make that decision on her own. If I push her, she’s only going to resent me for staying here. I can’t make her hate me like some people do to their wives."

Perry did turn at that, the tell-tale vein bulging in his reddening neck. "Well, of course not, Newbie; that’s your style!"

JD could see the harsh insult coming even as Dr. Cox’s mouth moved, feeling a sudden rush of annoyance at the old nickname.

"You’re just so damn clingy and desperate that you just went ahead and knocked her up, didn’t ya?" Perry finished angrily, and ignored the regret that nearly made him apologize a moment later.

"Woah, uncool!" Turk immediately argued as he stood.

"Wanna take it outside so you can defend your baby sister’s honor, Gandhi? Or should I just knock you both flat now?" Perry sneered, insomnia and frayed nerves finally grating over him like a rake over dirt. Small pops sounded as he cracked his knuckles with lips drawn.

JD stood to try and stop the ensuing fight, but finally saw Kim’s blonde head entering the coffee shop.

"Kim, hey!" JD finally said, brushing between the two of them to greet her.

Perry growled, glaring at all three as he grabbed his coffee to leave.

"So…you’ve been so great about not pressuring me about everything that…"

JD sat down and braced himself to hear her stay, not giving much notice to Perry standing almost awkwardly in the doorway of the shop.

"Well…I took the job!" Kim rushed out excitedly. She kept speaking before she turned to gave JD a quick kiss on the cheek and left, but JD heard very little of it.

JD sat stock-still, unable to move for the oddly numb feelings that battered his system. He knew he looked shocked, but didn’t care.

Pain suddenly registered in his chest, and he didn’t bother to even look.

"Got it!" Janitor yelped happily, and blew over the barrel of his paint gun. He wondered if the zoo was still open.

Bright, nearly clownish-red paint stained JD’s scrubs directly over his heart.

Perry watched from the doorway. He hated it for him, in a way. When he realized that all he wanted to do was make sure JD was okay (via a gruff question of if he was ready to save lives or just drown his sorrows in a watered-down-appletini), he slammed the doors open and chucked his coffee into a trashcan without finishing it.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

It was how Dr. Cox found JD later, immersed in paperwork in the employee lounge. The stained scrubs top was hanging over the back of JD’s chair, the younger doctor opting out for a labcoat instead.

Perry wasn’t used to seeing him in it, and discomfort rose in his chest immediately before he finally settled on saying nothing and exiting once more.

"Come to tell me how knocking her up doesn’t mean she’ll stay or was the coffee shop your general piece of advice for the week?" JD asked dully.

Perry hated that flat tone. "Well, that depends there, Selena," Perry replied, reluctantly turning from the door and folding his arms across his chest as if to protect himself. "Are you still going to be shopping pink or blue for the baby shower?"

JD suddenly threw his pen down, paperwork forgotten. "What in God’s name is wrong with you?" he snapped. "Don’t you get that I don’t need this right now?"

"None of your business. Forget I tried to help there, Newbie," Perry muttered angrily, not recognizing the hurt at being rejected somehow. He saw it as anger instead and settled for glaring at him, eyes burning with something indefinable.

JD gritted his teeth as the old nickname sent something through him furiously once more. "My internship and residency ended long ago; you think you could drop the Newbie crap?"

"Who said you being a newbie had anything to do with your level of medical expertise anymore?" Perry shot back, hating himself more and more as the words came from him. Frustration surged through his chest, spreading as surely to his fingers, toes and brain as his blood did.

"Christ, I don’t need this from you right now." JD mustered up as much courage as he could gather and stood, glaring at Dr. Cox as he grabbed his stained scrubs top from the chair. "Blow it out your damn-"

JD never finished, as Perry had shoved him hard, knocking JD back into the small counter-sink in the lounge.

"So what, I start to move on and you’ve suddenly got some goddamn itch to growl and snarl at me again? I’ve been trying to get your advice on this for weeks!" On his last word, JD shoved Perry back with one hand.

"Didn’t we learn from the last time you shoved me, Newbilia?" Perry scoffed carelessly. "Every single time I actually-god forbid-try to help you, you never want it!"

Rage boiled in Perry’s sleep-deprived nerves as he glared back at JD’s face. The dark hurt lacing the younger’s features slapped him in the face, and the desperate frustration was back.

Perry struggled to ignore it and classify it only as anger and disgust once more.

Still, JD was hurting, and Perry struggled (most unsuccessfully) to let his anger melt away, but the process was interrupted by a surprisingly hard, two-handed push to his chest.

"That’s because you never actually want to help me; all you want to do is save the day so you can feel like you’ve got a friend other than yourself!" JD spat out, realizing just no sooner than he’d said it just how much that would hurt.

Perry struggled the anger away, but it wasn’t going down without a fight. "You know what, Newbie? You’re right. Kindly blow it out your goddamn ass." Perry turned sharply again to leave, but felt a strong tug on his lab coat when JD snatched it in his fist and jerked on it.

It brought them nose-to-nose, both men furiously breathing now.

"Let go," Perry snarled lowly, hoping desperately that JD would just so that Perry wouldn’t feel the labored puffs of hot air hitting his lips over and over again. He bared his teeth his slightly to help it along, but it only served to make his eyes lower to JD’s mouth as it began to move once more.

"You’ve been treating me like utter crap for months, and I really don’t-"

The unbidden dreams suddenly became brutal reality, if a bit surreal, as Perry saw more than felt his mouth crash into JD’s. The dreams had been like this too, hard and furiously desperate.

Perry winced; their teeth clacked and crushed upon lips. Oh god, it hurt, and in more ways than he cared to analyze.

JD froze and stood completely still, paralyzed by fear and shock. He jerked back suddenly, eyes wide and flushed from anger and something a little more.

Perry stared at him, hands clenched and his knees not all together steady. He wondered for a minute if he’d goaded JD on purpose just to make this moment happen or if it would’ve happened eventually anyway, and why in god’s name wasn’t JD saying anything at all?

Blood pounded a stormy rhythm in Perry’s ears, and the trained-doctor in him counted his pulse meticulously as it rushed from heart to head to groin all at the same time.

Light-headedness and disgust were both there too.

Perry didn’t know if he could really accept it or not that the disgust was only because he’d done something so incredibly stupid in the first place, and not because he’d hated feeling JD’s surprised mouth upon his own.

A coppery taste suddenly registered on Perry’s tongue, and he wondered if it was his blood or JD’s.

Breath came rapidly from JD’s mouth as he stared at him in a dumbstruck fashion, unsure of what, exactly, had just happened. Even more so, he was confused at how much he wanted more.

The terror and arousal gave birth to the certainty that JD would do anything just to get it.

JD slowly approached Perry, breath being expelled vigorously from both men. The older flinched visibly when they were within touch of each other.

Just as suddenly as the first one, Perry realized what JD was going to do only seconds before it happened. He raised rough, callused fingers to JD’s neck and head even as JD’s blunt, short nails wrapped around his face.

Unexpected need surged through Perry as JD kissed him again.

Still, the disgust fought through him as well, but more at himself than the pulse of arousal that flowed through him. He tilted JD’s head back to try and take control of the kiss and situation both.

Surprise rocked through him like a seismic shock when JD’s fingers slid up and into Perry’s hair to grab hard in response, trying to keep control as well.

Perry hadn’t pegged him for that.

It was when their bodies aligned from hip to shoulder that Perry let his hands drop, fingers curling against JD’s narrow hips to bruise against the pelvic bone. The fingers in his coarse hair tightened more, and pain shot through Perry’s head, making the ache in his temple worse.

He didn’t care, and only pressed his fingers harder, struggling now to dominate JD’s mouth with his tongue. The younger man’s mouth was bigger than Jordan’s; it was an unexpected sensation to feel another tongue shove back so vivaciously.

Perry groaned hard in the back of his throat when one of JD’s hands dropped to wrap around his neck across the back, fingers playing with the bones and sensitive strands of hair at the nape.

Jordan. Oh god, Jordan.

Perry yanked back, as if burned, when Jordan came screaming back into his mind. What the hell was he doing?

JD stared back at him, his eyes wide and more teal than blue with a great deal of confusion as opposed to the terror that he might have felt at one time. His lips were bruised and swollen, his mouth slightly parted as he struggled to breathe.

Perry struggled with himself to re-adopt the scowl on his face, but it didn’t work. His features contorted into a look of shocked embarrassment, though the fear pumped as readily in his blood as his heart shoved oxygen to his brain. Arousal ran across his features, feelings splayed across his face in a darkly consuming show of frustration and fear.

He hated that.

Opening his mouth to try and say something ultimately hurtful to distance himself, Perry found that nothing would come out.

A sound that came off vaguely like a stuttering, one-syllable "uh" shaped yelp escaped his mouth before he took off for the door of the lounge, slamming it behind him.

JD stared at it with saucer-sized eyes. That hadn’t…just…happened, had it? He fell back into his chair, fingers grazing across his mouth.

It couldn’t have.

It was too bizarre; it just…hadn’t happened.

JD looked back down at the paperwork in front of him. His mouth felt bruised and his system still reeled. He sat back, trying to organize his thoughts enough to form one cohesive thought.

It didn’t work.

JD let a sharp expulsion of air escape his mouth, and he pushed the waist of his scrubs-pants down to view a set of small, oval red marks that splashed vividly against his hips, threatening to become bruises. He yanked his pants back up, tying them more snugly than he normally would have so there wouldn’t be any danger at all of seeing them again.

Down the hallway in the near-privacy of the bathroom, Perry worked desperately to calm himself down even as he took a glance in the mirror. He swore sharply; his curly hair was an absolute mess and his cheeks were flushed with color.

The color wasn’t arousal. It couldn’t be.

Forgetting it as quickly as it had come, Perry realized it had been his own blood he’d tasted, and he licked the cut on his top lip, trying to ground himself as saliva made it sting. He let his head fall against the mirror, feeling now like he really was coming down with the flu.

And now, the first thing he had to - no, needed to do - was forget that this…thing had ever happened in the first place.

That could have been relatively easy, if it hadn’t been for the fact that all Perry could feel pressing through his mind was the deeply seated need to go back, find JD, shove him against the wall and kiss him all over again.

Perry tried his best to simply shove the desperate need away. He wasn’t…like that.

It was nearly an hour later before his mouth stopped buzzing with feeling, and it was another hour after that when Perry gave up on telling himself that he could forget that taste.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

It was nearly ten minutes later that JD heard his pager going off in a muffled beeping. The sound of it was quiet and groggy enough that it made him feel like he’d heard it under water. He snapped back to alertness from habit of the years, rubbing his mouth for a moment of sheer confusion as he headed back to work.

It was easy for JD to immerse himself in the mechanical actions of medicine. It distracted him, kept him busy, kept him from thinking, and stopped him from finding Dr. Cox and demanding to know exactly what had happened.

It was while he wrote the orders on a chart that he remembered Kim.

JD started for a minute, jumped when he realized that he still hadn’t really talked to Kim.

Too many thoughts suddenly thrived through his mind in a vivid, chaotic dance of heathen quality, twisting and turning so much that he could barely divide through them.

It was the fact that Kim was having his child that finally broke through, and JD finished the last order so he could leave for a few minutes.

JD tried not to think that Kim suddenly wasn’t on his radar any longer, only his child and Dr. Cox. Guilt pressed him that Dr. Cox was in his mind as much as his future-child was. He tried then to shove both away so he could think about it later.

It didn’t work, and set JD on anxious, frayed nerves. He regretted it later when he told Kim to simply go, to do what was best for her. They’d work out custody somehow; he wanted to be with his child.

What JD regretted and hated more was that he only felt as if Kim would now be gone, he could figure this thing out with…well…

Perry.

The name was strange in his mouth, and he immediately held his ear in reflex as if Dr. Cox had struck him for using his real name.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Perry sipped at his scotch slowly, his thoughts scattered and his eyes unfocused. The TV went on, though he barely took in the plays or scores of whatever game was on.

He must seriously be losing it if he wasn’t paying enough attention to the game on the TV to even know what sport it was.

With a sigh, Perry reached forward and poured more scotch into his glass. He was going to need more ice soon, he thought, but drank it warm anyway.

Just what the hell had happened today? What the fuck had he been thinking? Or had he even thought at all?

Yet, it still wouldn’t go away.

Even after Perry had left the lounge and even later, he still couldn’t stop thinking about what had happened, how his mouth had felt bruised for hours later or even how his skin tingled with nerves.

Perry leaned back irritably. This wasn’t fucking fair. It should be Newbie that had the stupid, little man-crush.

Perry wasn’t supposed to be the one who had all but molested him in an obscure-but-still-public-place. He wasn’t supposed to be the one who couldn’t stop thinking about it. It wasn’t supposed to be him who wondered if enough alcohol could numb the stomachache in his belly that made his heart hurt in a place he hadn’t thought of in a very long time.

In a blurry, unfocused way, Perry glanced lazily at the small digital clock on the TIVO device he used to record football games.

It was barely past 2 AM.

Perry set his scotch down; this wasn’t going away. Alcohol had always numbed him in the past, had always made him more quiet than angry, had always served to silent ache that was seated deep within his chest.

Perry started to stand, finding himself wobbly and unstable. He rubbed a hand through his hair, tangling the curls and pulling just so as if to pull himself into sobriety.

Things just couldn’t get worse right now.

Of course, as predictable as ever, he was wrong.

There was a knock on the door, he drunkenly realized. Something was pounding on the stupid door in a stupid, girly way that could only be one stupid person in all…well…stupid general.

Perry hesitated before the door. If he opened it right now, everything was likely to come falling out. There was no protection here, no safeguards, nothing. If he opened that stupid door, then the whole stupid scenario was likely to be pouring…well…stupidly out of him.

Perry missed the word stupid sometimes.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

JD stood outside of the door, fist knocking gently. His face was dark and almost angry, though on him, it looked like a childish pout. There was still, however, no mistaking the fury that laced his tightly displeased features.

With a frown, JD listened quietly against the door as he heard muffled sounds within the apartment. He could hear stumbling footsteps, could hear swearing even. As the sounds approached, he could hear one word, and one word only.

"Stupid…stupid, stupid newbie…stupid door, stupid, girly…"

JD stiffened outside the door. He glared at it again then, a mixed look of both furious hurt and confused rage crossing over his features. He turned and headed for the elevator then.

If Dr. Cox (JD had stopped calling him Perry when his ear had started aching) was going to be like that, JD wasn’t going to stick around just to hear the berating that he knew was coming.

JD, as for himself, just wouldn’t take it. Not when something had finally stirred deeply in a place long forgotten since that first desperate hook-up with Elliot, not when things had finally made sense, not when things had finally, blessedly, fallen into a cursed, devil-ridden place.

Punching the elevator doors viciously, JD knew he just couldn’t stand to hear that everything was a mistake, a slip-up. Not this time.

Not when everything he wanted was on a desperate tight-rope, waiting to fall back to reality.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Perry finally managed to figure out the doorknob in his drunken state and yanked the door open. He frowned immediately.

No one was there.

Poking his head owlishly out the door, Perry looked up and down the hallways, but only heard the elevator doors sliding closed again.

With a sigh, Perry slammed the door shut, mindless of both Jordan and Jack in a stupor that he didn’t bother to even try and control. Of course it hadn’t been stupid Newbie; if it’d been Newbie, there would’ve been someone at the door to demand what had gone on, what it meant, what it changed.

Perry wasn’t thick enough to think it changed nothing. He knew it changed everything.

But JD wasn’t at the door. Maybe it hadn’t meant a goddamn thing. Maybe nothing really ever mattered in the first place, and Perry was just as much of a bastard as he’d ever tried to make himself out to be.

Perry frowned, the words tripping like falling stars in his head. He leaned back on the couch, stomach burning in hunger and demanding food.

He gave it none. Nothing ever really mattered, in the long run, as long as he hydrated tomorrow and ate at some given point.

His stomach pointed out that its hunger wasn’t related to the ache that demanded closure, demanded more, demanded everything.

Perry felt his eyes slipping shut, even as his head nodded to-and-fro. Everything was too much to feel; it made him hurt. It made him think, it made him want to cuddle with Jordan.

And that was just not allowed.

Instead, Perry pulled a pillow normally used for Jack to sleep on the floor, and held it to himself as he finally, and blissfully, slept in silence on the couch with no dreams to plague him for the first time in months.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Author’s Notes: Weird. I know.

Sat, 02 Aug 2008 01:46:53 GMT

So....I've been working on both the Split Conference Arc and the Looking Glass arc.

But in real life news :P See, that's how I get ya :P

Anyway XD

Just kidding. Though I have been working on both said fics, and a couple of tables. I have, however, been swamped with work, quick vacation and now school's looming in a couple of weeks ^^

Yes, that's right folks. Old college-drop-out here is going back to school XD And what a loaded semester I've got...I'm going to try and take General Bio I, Survey of Mathematics, Fit and Well for Life (mandatory PE course for my English AA), British Literature, American History and Intro to Computers...if I pass both Intro to Comp and Survey of Math with an A or B, I'll have my math courses done for my English AA, and after that, all I really need are a few electives :D and...woot!

I'll be done with that infernal English AA and can really start the harder core parts of my Biology AA so I can do my BA in Biochemistry. I'll have to muddle through a remedial math course here or there...but I don't care. I'm going back to school to do something I've wanted to do since I was like...12 instead of doing something my folks wanted me to do because it was cheaper and easier.

To be fair to them, I was probably in that mindset too.

Anyhow, vacation went pretty well...having a brutal week back (been working at the Big Lots since last Monday, I'll be on until Tuesday afternoon...bleh...counted it up, it's like...9 days in a row my first week back XD)

But during vacation...da-da! I got three new tats done and got my old one re-touched ^_^ I'll post pics and stuff later on...suffice to say, my artist, "Adrian" (good friend of mine for about 3 years), retouched my cross and pirate sword on my left shoulder, did a big tribal dragon on my left, a medium-size version of the cross and snake from Full Metal Alchemist on my left wrist and a big faceless grim reaper on my back...faceless because I wanted a different face ;) So unfinished as of yet, but I'm going up to his place for spring break hopefully ^^ At which time I'll get the reaper finished and then also get a series of six elements done into my right wrist/forearm sorta area and also get Alice from American McGee's Alice done on my left forearm ^^ Lotsa plans.

In any case, been a few full months, even though I updated like...5 weeks ago. When I got back to work, it was to find that one person had quit, another could no longer work days and that someone else, like myself, was going back to school and wouldn't be able to work days either. So I finally managed to get my schedule worked out so that I can take the classes I need to take as well as work days at the Big Lots...

I seriously can't wait. It's gonna be a blast to go back to school finally, especially knowing now what I should've known then.

But that's about it. This was just an update on me, but I'll probably be tossing out a Looking Glass update soon with a potential Silent Partner update in the works. I need to reread through the majority of Split Conference and Silent Partner to remember where I was going and what I was going to do and how to do it properly XD If that makes much sense :P

I have plenty of Scrubs though to help. After all, I finished getting all six seasons of Scrubs recorded onto DVD about two months ago, woot! So much fun... ^^

Anyhow, catch everyone laters ^^

My Looking Glass-Chapter 17

Fri, 02 May 2008 22:45:32 GMT

Title: My Looking Glass
Chapter: 17
Author: Elise Davidson
Rating: PG-15
Pairings: JD/Cox, Jorliot, Turla
Warnings: Slash, magic stuff, drama/angst
Summary: Wherein mirrors aren't just mirrors and something greater lies beyond the glass.
Author's Notes: Sorry for my absence!

My Looking Glass

Title: My Looking Glass

Author: Elise Davidson

Rating: PG-13

Warnings: Slash, Femmeslash, magic stuff, drama, angst, all those goodies

Pairings: JD/Cox, Jordan/Elliot, Turk/Carla

Summary: See previous chapters please

Author’s Notes: Wow, I had to think for a minute about the kind of stuff I put before I begin the chapter…as it’s been so long, I’m going to make the author’s notes fairly brief…I’m so sorry it took so long to get this out there! :hangs head: I hope you enjoy though!

I will go ahead and apologize for seeming to cross the Mary Sue line with Erin. It didn’t occur to me until after I’d finished Chapter 17 and posted Chapter 16 that she’d thrown herself in front of others to save them and is now being held by the enemy. I hate to give things away just as much as the next person, but she’s not really being hurt all that much where she’s at; those are for plot reasons that’ll come to light in Chapter 18. The reason it crossed that line is that after our beloved Scrubs peoples ended up in Libris, I’ve been following the original story line almost religiously. It’s no excuse however, and for that, I apologize. I’ve been trying to make as much of a point as possible to make these characters original; not plot-centric. The Hale family, however, was plot-required in the original fic, so I’m kind of toning down as I go. Thanks again everyone for still reading!

Chapter 17

Jack clapped his hands, various wooden toys forgotten around him. "Show me!" he babbled. "I wanna do it!"

Mary grinned as she lowered her hands, dark purple casting sparkling trails as it slowly tapered off. "I don’t know if you can yet, JQ," she replied, tapping his nose.

Jack batted at her hand. "I can do it too!" He waved his hands quickly (and a fair bit comically) in the air, but nothing happened. He frowned, the obvious signs of screaming the rafters down shadowing his face.

Mary, on the other hand, was neither Jack’s parents or the nanny, so she didn’t know right away what those signs were.

"Now, JQ," she said warningly, hoping her voice sounded authorative. "If you don’t act like a big boy, I won’t do any more shows. And you’ve only seen what I can do; you haven’t seen the other colors yet. And Vy can lift you right off your feet!"

"Mary!" Violet hissed. "I don’t think Relics Sullivan and Cox would appreciate that!"

Mary snorted. "If you’d ever spent more than ten minutes in a room with either one of those two, you’d know that they worry too much. He’s a doctor, she’s a…something." She frowned for a minute. "They never quite told me."

Violet looked thoughtful for a moment. "Relic Reid said something about her running demons…but I think she was being facetious."

"Then she’ll fit right in at Nox." Mary turned back to Jack. "Won’t your mum just love it here, JQ?"

Aiden turned a page in a book he was reading. "So what’s the "Q" stand for?"

"My name is Jack Quinn Cox," Jack replied proudly.

"He probably doesn’t want to be saying that too loudly," Jeremy pointed out. "Once word gets out who the new Relics are, everyone’s going to know his name. We all know that the rulers haven’t procreated in a while."

"Yes, but they received their powers at who knows when," Mary retorted. "There’s no telling if they passed anything down to little JQ here." She ruffled his hair. "I would’ve felt something by now."

"You only got lucky with the Relics, and even luckier that Mum didn’t skin you alive for all of the rot you pulled getting them here," Jeremy argued. "You maneuvered both her and them into it, and you know it."

"I didn’t make anyone sick, and I certainly didn’t kill anyone. If anything, my going back was probably what made them feel more at ease."

"Yes, but then there’s Relic Turk and his wife. He thinks what everyone should think of you."

Mary’s eyes grew challenging and her face grew hot. "Just because you walk around with all the little knights-to-be at school doesn’t mean I can’t whip you in a fair fight."

"But the problem is that you never fight fair," Violet intervened, hoping to avoid an argument.

"She’s right," Mary decided without missing a beat. "So I could whip you two ways."

"So I get the other ninety-eight under the sun?"

"Jeremy, Mary," an adult voice said sharply from the doorway.

It had come from a woman with very fine, light brown hair that was pulled back in a messy ponytail. Her skin was tanned and somewhat dry, and her face was hard with oddly pale blue eyes. Her arms were crossed, and she wore a plain white tee that was stained with something that looked suspiciously like blood.

Her name was Laura Shay, and she was the head cleric in Hydracia where the hospitals were.

Laura’s face didn’t change from its hard stare. "Enough bickering. I need to speak with you. Aiden, you and Vy can handle the child?"

"My name is Jack Quinn Cox!" Jack said again. He seemed to have forgotten that he wanted to make lights at all.

Violet gave a nervous grin to Jack. "Very good. Would you like to see more lights?"

Jack nodded vigorously. So much so that Violet wondered for a moment if his head would snap off.

"Okay. Aiden?"

Aiden rolled his eyes, put his book down, and came back over. "Watch this." He shook his hands out for a minute, and slowly pulled one finger up. Red slowly sparkled from it as he kept his other hand just above the ground. His fingers vibrated gently, but Jack was focused in a bored fashion on the color.

"Mary did that," Jack retorted.

"Did she do this?" Aiden carefully raised the one finger away from Jack’s face, and then suddenly brought his other palm up to slap his hands together.

Sparks and small flames burst from his hands.

Jack gasped, unsure whether to cry to laugh for a moment. His face teetered between the two before he finally laughed when he realized he wasn’t hurt.

Meanwhile, Laura had led Mary and Jeremy from the room. "I was called away earlier this evening to try and give medical attention to some of our enemies. You know that we’re trying to successfully flip them for information."

The conversation always started out the same for Mary and Jeremy, who had heard it on numerous occasions as it was when one of their parents had been hurt.

Neither twin had said anything upon their stay on Earth, but they’d both been relieved that they didn’t have to worry so much about their parents. The car accident had been the worst thing to happen the whole time that they’d stayed there.

"Cleric Shay," Jeremy interrupted her (politeness was something he tended to forget when it came to his parents after all). "Who was it?"

"It’s your mother," Laura finally replied, a small part of her hating to see such vast cynicism on the children’s faces. "One of them told me she was hurt when they left, but since-"

"You didn’t see her?" Mary cut in. "Where is she?"

Laura sighed, bringing them over to sit down in the hallway of the Aetherian shelter. "That’s just it, Mary. I wasn’t able to see her. One of the men I worked on told me that they took her with them. She and the other three Relics, however, successfully sealed off a large network of the tunnels that’ll save more lives next week than we’ve been able to for the past year."

"Small price to pay," Mary snapped. "She would’ve said that. Where is she?"

"Mary, calm down," Laura retorted, but her voice wasn’t kind. "We were lucky to find this out now instead of later. Her status and rank to the country are too important for her to be killed. If so, they would have earlier instead of taking them with her. Now she’s a mouth to feed and care for."

"And when she doesn’t talk, they will kill her," Jeremy pointed out coldly. "What about the Relics that went with her?"

"They’re in Nox," Laura replied. "Or they were headed that way. I thought to stop by and tell you about your mother before we started the reconnaissance mission to find them."

"Go find them!" Mary muttered. "Don’t stop to care about our mother!" She stood and ran off down the hallway.

"Mary!" Jeremy called and gave Laura an apologetic look. "She’s…"

"She’s just like her mother," Laura muttered. "Go after her. Will Aiden and Violet really be fine?"

"The shelter’s on lockdown," Jeremy reminded her. "We’ll be okay."

"I’m off then. Don’t worry, Jeremy. Your mum’s one of the toughest birds I know."

Jeremy grinned, but it didn’t reach his eyes. He then ran off after Mary down the dark hall.

Laura looked in on Violet, Aiden and Jack once more. She watched the small boy with the barest hint of a smile. He was barely three or four; if he were a true Librisian, he’d have started showing something of his powers by now.

It was a real shame that he seemed to be an Earthen through and through.

Laura began to turn away, and then had the vaguest sense that she had lost a few seconds somewhere along the way. Frowning, she looked back in at Jack and Aiden, who were trying to talk Violet into lifting him off the ground.

Laura shook her head again. It had been a long night, and it wasn’t the first time she hadn’t been able to keep reality and vision separate from each other.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

When Carla came to, she immediately wanted to move and find Turk. However, cool hands pushed her back down and a set of oddly lavender eyes were begging her to stay still. The voice was in her head too, telling her firmly that she needed rest.

Carla stared up, looking at a young boy with jet black hair and pale features. "Where’s my husband?" she tried to ask, but it came out more like "gughhh huh bmaub?"

That wasn’t she wanted to say at all.

"He’s fine. I made him go get some sleep; leave it to you to wake as soon as he left," the boy replied witheringly.

"Hey. Pay her some respect, bones. She’s a Relic too, you know," Jordan’s sharp voice drifted.

The boy seemed to roll his eyes for a moment. "I really wish she would stop calling me that," he muttered. "You need to rest. The best cleric in Hydracia is coming to assess your wounds shortly."

Jordan glared as Kalen rose from the cot they’d placed Carla on. "How’s she doing?"

"The arrow didn’t seem to pierce anything vital," Kalen replied, washing his hands just outside the room in a small basin. "What were you doing out there anyway?"

"Less questions; more telling me how she is. Buddha out there is going crazy."

"She’s fine. Cleric Shay coming to see her is more a formality than anything."

"And when is "Cleric Shay" going to be here?"

"In about twenty minutes. She had to go deliver the news of Captain Hale’s disappearance to her children," Kalen replied bitingly, anger at their having left Captain Hale behind showing plainly in his voice.

"Hey, Bones," Jordan said sharply, glaring at him eye to eye. "We didn’t opt to leave Miss Stupid in the tunnels. She threw us down and then had the big scary black man out there collapse it. It wasn’t our choice."

"Tell that to her children, Relic Sullivan," Kalen replied stiffly, bowing his head.

Jordan looked at him. "My son is with her children. Just because you have a little boy-crush on Miss Mary Quite Contrary doesn’t give you a right to talk down to me, you little geek. Now go find your dungeon master and roll a die to decide whether I’m going to kick your ass slowly or painfully."

Kalen didn’t understand the reference of course, but it had him running away, which was exactly what Jordan wanted.

Jordan sighed and went to find Turk again. They hadn’t let the surgeon examine Carla, not trusting his earthen training. When he’d pointed out that he’d had years of schooling, just as they did, Kalen had simply pointed out that their techniques were different, and it would be better if he sat still.

Turk was sitting in a small room with a bed in it, his head in his hands.

Jordan closed the door behind her, and pulled up a chair. "She’s going to be fine, Mohammed."

"I am not sleeping with you," Turk immediately muttered from behind his hands.

"Wouldn’t dream of it," Jordan retorted with a roll of her eyes. "I know you’re worried, but Carla…well, she’s a tough little fighter. Must come with the feisty Latin heritage."

"I’m about to pop the next little brat that comes up to me to tell me anything."

Jordan shrugged, leaning back in her chair. "Wouldn’t blame you. But that doesn’t change the fact that she’s going to be fine." She crossed her arms. "And you might want to play nice a little bit. Besides, if you’re nice enough to me, I’ll order my little minions around here to leave you alone for a minute so you can go see her."

Turk finally raised his head. "I can’t lose anyone else."

Jordan felt discomfort arise immediately in her chest. "Well, you’re not going to. I’ll give you a few minutes." She rose and headed for the door. "You coming or not?"

Turk finally got to his feet. "How do you know she’s going to be fine?"

Jordan stopped and looked at him. "Because she got hit with an arrow in her arm and she’s not dead yet. That usually indicates she’s going to be fine just so long as these idiots around her don’t let the site get infected." She tapped his forehead. "Could’ve had a V8 there, Buddha."

Turk rubbed his forehead. "Just let me see her, reaper."

XXXXXXXXXXXX

When Jos led them from the shelters in Lucesco, it was morning and the sun was out. Perry was already grumbling about coffee, and had begun to distance himself physically from JD as far as he could. He even appeared to be making small talk with Jos about Lucesco and the people in order to avoid looking or speaking with the younger doctor at all.

JD stuck his tongue out at Perry’s back, but retracted quickly when Perry suddenly whipped around.

"Real mature there, Newbie. It’s obvious both why and how you made it through medical school."

JD glared. "I know what you are, but what am I?"

"A small girl-child with invisible pigtails?" Perry retorted and turned back to Jos.

Elliot swung an arm to JD’s shoulders. "It’s okay, JD. Dr. Cox is just a big hard guy."

JD gulped and didn’t retort, eyes focused on the ground.

"You know that he only gets angry at you because that’s his way of saying he…somethings you."

"Can it, Elliot," JD muttered.

Elliot looked miffed for a moment and shrugged. "Fine, walk by yourself with Ian then. See if I care. Besides, Jos knows cooler stuff than you."

JD looked up just in time to see a quickly blinding light where Jos was standing, and before he could blink, she was standing next to him.

Jos raised her shoulders. "And that’s how you do it."

"Please, oh please tell me you’re going to show me how to do that so that when I suddenly happen to decide that someone is being annoying," Perry started, glaring directly at JD. "I can leave whenever I wish. Do I have to click my heels or something?"

Jos whistled low as the light around her flashed and bent again, and she appeared next to Perry. "No, not unless you really have the deep desire to click your heels."

Perry snarled under his breath as she led them into the main citadel of Lucesco’s capital.

"We’re in Illuminae right now, the capital," Jos went on. "And anything I say after that is going to sound like a museum tour. So from here, we’re going directly to the Relic’s office so I can send most of you back to Pathosne."

"Most of us?" Elliot asked questionably. "You know, I’d really like to go see Jordan now."

Jos sent her a look that was both kind and curious. "Eventually. Besides, they’re going to take Relic Sullivan and Relic Turk back to the castle as soon as possible. Apart from the mined shelters in the cliffs in Aether, that’s one of the safest places in Libris."

"And Jack?" Perry asked gruffly.

"Is safe with Mary, Jeremy, Aiden and Violet in Aether as well. Once they’re given the all clear that it’s is safe, they’ll escort Jack to Pathosne too."

"Damn right they will," Perry muttered. He crossed his arms again as Jos led them up a flight of stairs. "Now those little brats can take care of my boy correctly, right?"

"As an extra security precaution, they’ll have a few others flanking them."

Perry didn’t seem satisfied, but didn’t pursue the matter. "Now what about Jordan and Carla?"

JD cleared his throat loudly behind them.

Perry rolled his eyes. "And Gandhi. Are they okay?"

Jos shrugged. "Like I know? I’ve been with you all night." She cast her hand over a door suddenly, and then, without warning, grabbed Perry’s hand and slapped it on the door.

Perry’s hand suddenly gave off the familiar white glow, and the door creaked open.

"Every time you enter this office, it has to recognize you as a relic. You are the only one who can open this door," Jos explained, but didn’t stop to go further. She pulled a cloth from the mirror in the room. "And now, it’s back to Pathosne," she finished cheerfully.

"We need to talk," JD muttered beside of Perry before he followed Jos into the mirror.

Perry rolled his eyes. "No we don’t!" he yelled and went after him.

Elliot rolled her eyes. "Men," she muttered, and glanced back to Ian. "Shall we? I seem to have some trouble getting through these things without tripping." She offered her arm.

Ian, dark-skinned as he was, still blushed as he took Elliot’s arm and led her through the pearl-framed mirror in Lucesco.

XXXXXXX

Perry sat quietly on the stairs that led up to the castle doors. He hadn’t taken a chance really to look at the scenery around the castle, but it wasn’t very friendly. Most of the grounds were scraggly, with the barest hint of vegetation growing in about a six-foot radius of the structure itself. From there, there were wild bushes and flowers that came in colors he hadn’t thought possible. They weren’t soft flowers either, like the kinds he could remember from his mother’s garden.

These were tough, small flowers that struggled to survive.

Perry wished fervently (not for the first time since coming to Libris) that he had a scotch in his hands.

When he heard the door open and close behind him (it was difficult not to), Perry turned and immediately rolled his eyes.

"For the love of god, Newbie, I’m trying to think," Perry muttered, glaring out at the copious shrubbery.

Perry thought for a minute if that started the maze that Erin had spoken of.

JD still sat down beside of him and handed him a glass. "One of the kitchen people said that this was what people drink around here to get drunk. I figured you could use one."

Perry didn’t look at him, but still took the dark, almost chocolate-colored concoction. "Now, Newbie…be warned, if this is something that tastes even remotely feminine, I’ll be forced to throttle your scrawny neck."

JD shrugged. "I didn’t think it tasted girly." He sipped again and scowled. "It’s certainly…something."

Perry smelled it suspiciously and pulled away immediately. The burning in his nose at least indicated that there was some real alcohol in it.

"Did they say what it was?"

"No. They just said it’d knock me on my ass and laughed."

"Newbie, even in a place where nothing makes sense, people still know that they can walk all over you." Perry finally cautiously knocked back a sip. It burned and tasted like liquor, but it wasn’t like scotch.

Perry still knew it’d get him drunk eventually. He sipped again. It was an odd combination of both sweet, salt and spice. It was fizzy too, but that didn’t bug him. Just so long as the end result was him plastered against a bed, too drunk to think any more.

JD slowly handled the glass in his hands. The ice in the liquid hadn’t melted yet, and he was tempted to play with the frozen water for a moment, just to see if he could really manipulate it the way he thought he could.

He wasn’t sure Perry would be able to appreciate the trick at all though. The older man was staring hard at the ground, his lips twisted into a stressed scowl.

"So…anything else neat come up?" JD asked as he felt the beads of water vibrate against his fingers.

"Like what, Newbie?" Perry snapped. "It isn’t enough that we’re trapped in this godforsaken place or that there’s people out there who actually want to kill us? And I don’t mean the "Oh my god, I’m gonna kill that guy since he didn’t call me in the morning" but the real mobster kill you. I’m not thrilled at anything going on right now."

JD didn’t seem to have an answer ready, but when he finally did open his mouth, the front door banged open again.

A sharp, familiar expulsion of breath was followed by a haughty "frick, this door is heavy", which signaled Elliot’s arrival.

Elliot kneeled behind them. "Turk and Jordan are back with Carla," she said, her voice heavy and worried.

Perry did turn at that. "What’s wrong, Barbie?"

"Uh…they sort of got ambushed during their thing," Elliot replied uneasily. "Everyone’s okay!" she immediately followed up when she saw the blood flowing through a pulsing temple in Perry’s forehead. "Well, mostly okay…Carla got hit, but-"

She never finished as Perry slammed past her through the open, creaky door.

JD sighed as he rose too and hurried after Perry, worry for them all streaming like ice through his body. When he reached the library, he found Perry yelling at Turk, Jordan listening to a lengthy, quickly-spoken lecture from Elliot, and Jack tugging at both of his parents shirts to try and get their attention.

Carla was sitting half-asleep from some type of sedative in a chair, her arm held in a sling and bandaged. Blood was on her shirt, and she stared hazily off into space.

Perry barely paused in his lecture to scoop Jack up, and immediately whirled back on Turk. "How could you let her get shot? Is chivalry a word that needs an izzle added to it so you understand when to take a shot for your own wife?"

Elliot’s words were, however, too strung together and too high-pitched for normal human ears, but the words "died", "dare" and "screw you" had been heard here and there.

JD looked around the chaos however, and frowned. "Where’s Mary and Jeremy?" His face deepened. "Hell, where’s Erin?"

Carla did look up sluggishly at that. "She just had to go out with a bang, that stupid woman," she slurred out.

JD glanced over at Elliot, who shrugged high without a clue.

"Turk, if you could stay down here, Aiden will escort your wife to her room so she can rest," Ian said loudly, hoping his voice sounded more authoritative than he felt.

"She’s not going anywhere without me," Turk replied, shoving past Perry hard to start to help Carla to her feet.

"You wanted to do this mission," Ian retorted hastily before he could think. "You need to be down here and listen while we try and plan a rescue."

"My wife is hurt because of you people," Turk snapped back. "The least you can do is let me take my own damn woman to bed so she can "get her rest" since you wouldn’t let me treat her in the first place."

"We had no way of knowing what was on or in that arrow; it’s imperative she get her rest as soon as possible," Ian pointed out. "It’s just as important that we speak now of this mission."

Perry hugged his son close, his head pounding with the non-stop course of activity and stress that pulsed through him. He thought he heard Jack whine, but didn’t cease holding him.

JD touched his shoulder gently. "Perry," he tried quietly.

Perry didn’t listen, but he didn’t jerk from JD’s hand either.

Ian and Turk’s argument had finally ended, and Turk was leading Carla up the stairs with Aiden.

Jack reached for his mother then, and Jordan gladly took him from Perry, who looked like he was about to either explode, kill people, punch someone or all three (and not necessarily in that order).

"So you want us to go back out there and grab your moronic, pathetic excuse of a captain because she decided to become Miss Martyr?" Perry asked, voice angry and vibrating in anger. "You said that none of us would get hurt!"

"We can't possibly predict-" Ian started, but he wasn't fast enough, and Perry's personality was beginning to rear far uglier than any of them had known.

"I don't know why I ever bothered to believe any of you," Perry seethed, his teeth bared and his jaw set. He didn't swipe his nose this time, and that was mostly because nothing felt like it was going to be okay ever. "You fixed my son, for that, you've got my ever-so-undying appreciation. But I don't owe any of you jack-asses a thing, and I'll appreciate it even more if you just show me the goddamn door before I break each and every one of you freaks into small, mushy little pieces."

Ian struggled to take a deep breath, but it came out of his mouth in a shaky expulsion that belied how little confidence he held.

JD felt torn then. A part of him was beginning to agree with Perry. Too many people had died, too many people had gotten hurt.

He still knew, however, if he left now, he'd still wonder how many more would die and get hurt. The decision wasn't fair, nor was it easy to make.

Perry, on the other hand, seemed to know exactly what he wanted to do. His fists were clenched hard at his sides, and his teeth were set into a snarl. He glared over at Jordan.

"Let's go."

Jordan sent him a disdainful look. "Since when have I ever taken orders from you, Per-bear?" She hitched Jack protectively on her hip. "We’re safer here then there, and besides, I was getting tired of normal, boring old home."

"Jordan, I have a life there; we have a life there! It’s not just you we have to think of; what about Jack?" Perry snapped.

The condescending look didn’t lift from Jordan’s face. "No matter what you think of me, I still love and care for our son, and I think he’s safest here. You really want to go back to sending him to daycare every day where he got that stupid cold in the first place?"

Ian shot Violet an urgent look that Elliot caught, but no one else seemed to. She jerked on Violet’s sleeve then.

"Violet, are any of the other kids in Jack’s daycare in danger?" Elliot asked quietly.

Violet made a small, strangled noise that indicated she was trying to avoid the topic.

"Well?" Elliot asked, anger coloring her voice gently.

"Of course they are," Violet finally said in a whisper. "Jack was more susceptible; it’ll take longer on normal children."

"Unless any of those other kids were one of you too; isn’t that possible? Why didn’t you bother to help them?"

Elliot guessed that as Violet’s skin seemed to carry a luminescent, purple quality, that it was completely normal when the teenager’s cheeks bloomed violet.

"We did not have time," Violet pointed out. "We were more concerned with Jack."

"Why?"

"Because he was Relic Cox’s son; surely I didn’t have to say that?"

"So you saved him and not the others just because he happened to be his son." Elliot glared at her. "That couldn’t have been the only reason."

Jos, who had been listening in, snorted. "Course it wasn’t the only reason," she replied for Violet, who gave her a "shut-up" look. "They figured they wouldn’t come otherwise."

Elliot stood then. "I’m going back," she said quietly.

Perry threw his hands up in the air. "That is so not right," he snapped.

"And I think Jordan and Jack ought to stay here too. It’s safer," Elliot finished.

Perry finally turned his furious glare over to JD. "What about you, Newbie? You gonna tuck your girly tail between your legs and hide from your real life too?"

Jordan sidled a vaguely disinterested look Elliot’s way. "Why should you go back? You know it’s safer here."

"For who?" Elliot muttered, glaring at Ian. She glanced back to Jordan. "Besides, you and Jack will be safe, and that’s what matters."

"Barbie’s half-right. It’s not safe here at all. Everyone of us ought to grow half a brain and go back all together," Perry shot in before Jordan could reply.

Jordan, however, didn’t seem to want to put up with much of it. Holding Jack close, she rose from her chair. "I’m staying here with Jack." She struggled to keep her grip loose on the toddler’s frame, all too aware of how frail he truly was. "And I think you ought to grow your full brain back and do the same."

Though she wasn’t sure of the layout of the castle, Jordan turned and left the room.

Ian sighed deeply. This wasn’t going at all according to plan. "If you really wish to go back, there’s nothing we can do to stop you."

"Carla will want to talk to you when she gets up, Perry," JD pointed out finally in a voice that sounded far more confident than he actually felt.

Still, something that looked suspiciously like hurt flashed across Perry’s raging frown like lightening; too quick to catch and impossible to tell how much. He left the room in silence, but the door slamming sounded like a crackle of tense thunder.

Ian began to rise, but JD grabbed his shoulder. "He’s not going to want company right now."

"But he needs protection outside the castle; he doesn’t know what’s out there," Ian retorted.

"Let me go after the big baby," Jos waved off. "You two deal with…Barbie, is it?"

Elliot blew a piece of hair from her face. "No; it’s Elliot."

Jos frowned. "Barbie’s easier to remember," she finally shrugged and left the room after Perry.

"He’s not going to…hurt her, is he?" Violet asked cautiously.

JD shrugged, pressing the heels of his hands into his eyes wearily. "Maybe. I don’t really know."

Elliot, however, didn’t seem to have lost focus and sat by JD’s side. "JD, we’ve got to go back…at least, for a little while. And we really need Dr. Cox or…" She gave a wary stare to Ian and Violet. "One of them. It’s the kids."

JD frowned in confusion. "Kids?"

Elliot rolled her eyes exasperatedly. "The kids! The ones Jack goes to daycare with! That…thing that was in Jack; the black shadows you talked about."

JD’s face hardened. "But I thought it was only for Jack, and besides, this is their disease, not-"

"Listen to me!" Elliot snapped. "It’s not just for him; it’s not just their disease. It’s just something that hasn’t come to our place yet; if we don’t go back to help, that’s going to change. You can see it where the X-rays might not be able to, and Dr. Cox can heal it. Don’t you get it? Those kids are going to die."

Violet’s face seemed to droop lower and lower in guilt as Elliot’s voice spoke hard truths.

"Why didn’t they tell the others?" JD asked, his chest tightening in fear that what happened to Dan could happen to someone who, like Dan, had nothing to do with the whole ordeal. He looked at Ian. "Isn’t there some kind of treatment for this besides what we had to do for Jack? I mean, a treatment before imminent death is near?"

"Of course there is," Violet blurted out. "Jack’s case was special; it normally doesn’t get that far in our children."

"What was it, anyway?" Elliot asked curiously. "I’ve never seen a disease that destructive in so little time."

Ian shrugged. "Under normal circumstances, the kids have it when they’re near Jack’s age, sometimes a little older. It’s usually treated with a serum for the cough and a weaker version of the illness itself to battle the stronger. Eventually, the body wins out."

Elliot and JD looked at each other for a moment, and though both were still rather worried, gave into a fit of laughter.

"You mean to say that Jack almost died because of magic chicken pox?" JD asked through a laugh that sounded entirely like someone had squeezed his throat.

Violet raised her eyebrows. "What in the name of the Creators is chicken pox? It sounds absolutely dreadful." She began to wring her hands then, knowing that their window of opportunity was small to deter Elliot and JD from going back.

Elliot, however, was determined. "We’re going back to help those kids. They didn’t do anything, and this isn’t their war. There’s no reason why it should suddenly have to be."

Meanwhile, Perry was standing in the small field of tall grass outside of the castle. The sky was furiously cloudy, but the sun was also rising below the horizon.

"Are you done brooding yet?" Jos asked from behind him. Her arms were crossed, and she impatiently tapped her elbow. "Because, you know, when you’re done throwing your temper tantrum, we’d love for you to come back in and act like a human being."

"Kid, I’m so not in the mood for your crap right now," Perry retorted. "So march your little fanny back into that castle and leave me the hell alone to think."

Jos rolled her eyes. "Look, I’m not trying to tell you what to do and what not to do, but either way, you’re needed in both places. Your son’s okay now; he should continue to be beneath our watch."

"Like I’m going to leave him here with you fre-"

"You’re not winning yourself any points by keeping up with that whole freak thing," Jos interrupted him. "Besides, not only are you one of us, but I didn’t see Jack doing too well staying on Earth."

Perry whirled around. "Are you telling me that I can’t take care of my own kid?"

"He’s not just your kid," Jos pointed out. "He’s Relic Sullivan’s as well, and she seems to agree with the general opinion that he’s safer here."

Perry glared back at the sky. The wind was bitterly cold, and chewed itself right down through the bones. He gave an involuntary shiver, and wondered for a moment if it was ever anything but cold in this place.

Crossing his arms and taking his best intimidating stance, he glared down at Jos, who was a good head or two shorter than he.

"I’ll stay until Carla’s okay again."

"I’m not making a deal with you," Jos replied matter-of-factly. "And I wouldn’t force you to remain here against your wishes. If you truly know in that thick skull of yours that Jack’s safer with you on Earth, I’ll take you out of here myself. But I think we both know that’s not true." Jos flicked a brown braid of hair off her shoulder. "You’re just scared, underneath it all. And who wouldn’t be? I was when I first arrived."

It caught Perry’s attention enough as he turned his back on her again, seething in self-anger at wanting to ask.

"I came here when I was 10," Jos finally said when he didn’t ask. "And I spent most of the first six months of my time here locked in my room, begging to go back home. I refused to go to the school for magic, and I wouldn’t let the Lucescan priests near me to discern my element."

"You got a point or is this gonna be some long, round-about tale of childhood woes and how they relate to my current problem?"

"God, that’s your problem. You’re a cynical ass." Jos blew a strand of hair from her face. "Look, six months after I got here, some git with a good shot killed both my parents and put my sister into a coma. That was when I found out I could fix the sick, if I really wanted to. Now it’s time for you. You’ve healed your son; you’ve seen what you and your friends can do. It’s not just about being a freak or being gifted in some strange way. It’s about what you know is right on the inside."

Perry sighed imperceptibly.

"And it’s something bigger than your stupid fears of being somewhere new," Jos finished off haughtily. "Grow up."

Perry turned when he heard retreating footsteps. He caught Jos by the collar and glared at her. "You’re really a brat."

Jos snorted. "I’d be offended if I wasn’t. Someone had to tell you to quit being one yourself." She wrenched loose of his grip and re-entered the castle.

Perry shook his head. Jos was painfully like Paige was as a child. Sighing again, he entered the castle again to once again try and talk normally in the library.

However, when Jos and Perry came into the room, the argument was still going on. Jordan and Jack were still absent, and JD and Elliot glanced over to Perry.

"Dr. Cox, we’ve got to go back," Elliot said again firmly, hoping her voice wasn’t going high-pitched. "We’re doctors; it’d be reckless if we didn’t."

"What do you mean?" Perry asked with a frown.

"Those kids in Jack’s daycare," Elliot snapped. "Haven’t you been listening? Violet thinks they could’ve gotten the same thing as Jack did."

Perry looked at Jos, who held her hands up.

"Like I know anything," she said in her defense. "I wasn’t there when your son was healed; I’ve barely met the child."

"Jack was most important," Ian argued. "There’s not much we can do for those kids without exposing you and ourselves!"

"So you’re just going to let them die?" JD asked, his heart wrenching. "What about their exposure? What about their families?"

"There isn’t much we can do," Violet replied. "Except give you the antibiotic we use to treat it when they’re not as close as Jack."

"Give it to us then; we’ll take it and cure them ourselves," Elliot pointed out.

"Barbie, there’s not much you’ve ever been able to do in the healing department; you ought to sit this one out," Perry pointed out hatefully.

"And let the same thing that almost killed Jack kill others? Blow it out your ass," Elliot retorted, punctuating her statement by blowing hair out of her face again.

"Now is not the time for you to grow the pair that Newbie so desperately wants," Perry snapped back. "You and him are going to stay here; I’ll take care of it. All of us know it’s safer here."

"You’re not going back alone; you saw what they did to me-hell, what they did to Jack!" JD yelped immediately.

"Case closed, Newbie. Stay here."

"I’m not an intern anymore!"

"You’re not an intern, but you’re still acting like a girl!"

Something hissed quietly in JD’s chest, threatening to rage through his mouth. Taking a deep breath, he looked at Perry.

"I’m not staying here, and that’s my final say," he said firmly. "You can’t tell me what to do anymore."

"By god, you’re staying here where they can’t hurt you anymore even if I have to tie you to a bed! You’re not strong enough, and you know it!"

The hiss in his chest suddenly became a roar, and before JD could stop it, his fist was roaring forward and slamming into something fleshy and solid with a slapping thunk.

Perry grunted as the unexpected swing caught him off guard and knocked him off balance. Blood immediately filled his mouth from where his teeth had cut his cheek and tongue, and a red bruise began to flush against his jaw.

"Oh, Newbie…" Perry cracked his knuckles as the anger resurfaced. Unfamiliar feelings of protection of JD were making him edgier than before, especially when Jordan and Jack had gone so quietly. "Big mistake."

Grabbing JD by the front of his shirt, Perry raised his fist to strike. JD squeezed his eyes shut, knowing more than well that he deserved it.

Instead, however, Perry lowered his fist and dragged JD out of the room and back outside into the frigid evening. He shoved JD away from him, glaring hard at the younger man.

The wind whipped even JD’s styled hair (though it was falling a bit limp from lack of washing). The younger doctor looked furious and frustrated, lightening snaking across the sky with a crackle of thunder.

"Are you done?" JD snapped. "I don’t need you acting like this! You’ve never acted like this before; why the hell now?"

"Because people weren’t getting hurt before! We weren’t trying to be killed before! Or did that escape your memory?"

"Jack is perfectly safe here, and so is Jordan," JD replied stubbornly.

"I’m talking about you, Maria," Perry snarled. "I can’t lose any one else!"

JD stared at him. Like himself, Perry looked outraged and apprehensive, desperately on the edge of struggling to say words that weren’t familiar to him anymore. Though lightening and thunder clouded all the sound, freezing rain and bits of snow began to sting their cheeks.

Perry sighed, rubbing a hand hard over his face to try and clear his brain. All he knew was that Jordan and Jack were safe, but JD was posing a huge problem, and though the reasons weren’t yet clear as to why it mattered so terribly much that JD remain safe, Perry knew it was something he had to achieve at all costs.

Feeling awkward, uncomfortable and worried, Perry finally lay his hands on JD’s shoulders with long sigh. JD gave him a confused look, and glanced quickly around.

"Am I dying? Or are you?" JD asked a moment later when Perry said nothing else.

Thunder crackled again, and the electricity from the lightening made the hair on JD’s neck stand on end.

That, or Perry’s intensely harsh gaze. It held a tinge of something JD couldn’t explain, even though he knew what the look was and meant.

"I’m going to be fine," JD finally said after a moment. "We’ve got this."

Perry struggled mentally and physically take to stock of his reactions to JD’s words, the weather and the feelings struggling to bubble to the surface.

Hands tightened on JD’s swimmer-like shoulders, skin was damp and like gooseflesh from the cold, his hair was getting wet from the rain…JD’s hair had ice crystals in it, though the wetness didn’t seem to affect him by much.

The feelings were harder to analyze, but Perry wasn’t stupid. He knew he was worried about the kid. The why was harder to admit, and so he didn’t.

Instead, he yanked JD to him unexpectedly into a bone-crushing embrace, arms wrapped tightly across JD’s smaller frame.

JD suppressed a sound of surprise, but it finally clicked for him and he knew he wasn’t the only one feeling differently towards Perry since the whole thing hard started over two months ago.

"Damn right you’re going to be fine," Perry muttered. "Because you’re staying here, and that’s that." He yanked away from JD and started off for the castle again.

JD, who was floating too high from the hug, cheerfully fell in step beside of him. "No, I’m not." He shrugged. "We’re supposed to be doctors; we’re supposed to help people when we can. If I don’t go back, then I’m more than every girl’s name you’ve ever called me."

Perry looked at him wearily. "I’m not going to change your mind, am I?"

JD shrugged. "I could be persuaded."

Perry groaned and gave him a hard shoulder bump. "Too soon, Newbie."

JD quirked an eyebrow up at the remark, but said nothing else as they entered the castle again to discuss tactics and protocol with the remaining party in the library.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

In the end, it was only JD and Perry who returned back to Earth, taking Ian with them for good measure. Jack was sent immediately to the Aetherian sanctuaries to be held under tight security and strict watch. Violet accompanied the small boy, leaving everyone else behind to discuss a rescue plan for Erin.

Mary and Jeremy had finally returned with their father, Ethan, in tow. The remaining three Hales looked tired and weary, but no less determined to immediately plan a reconnaissance mission to save their mother.

Carla, who was still recovering, was sent to Hydracia to rest up properly in the hospital. Though Turk blustered, yelled, lectured and swore, he finally remained behind with the Hales.

"You’re one of the strongest we have right now; you only need accept your gifts and talents," Aiden had pointed out to him.

Over the next few days of planning, Jordan, Turk and Elliot learned that the bells had various volume to them, and often, if they weren’t clanging loudly in disharmony, Ethan would wave it off and turn back to the complex map.

The map that Ethan had left on the table for them to study was not only detailed with small, oddly swooping cursive, but also unfinished. A few words were in Latin, some in Greek, and even a few that were a language that Elliot barely recognized as the old language of the Scottish isles, Gaelic.

Ethan had explained the map was the known tunnels underground, and some of them led directly into some of the small land bases that Idyllithia had set up along the Librisian perimeter.

They weren’t very big, from what any of them could tell, but it was very possible that transporting Erin was considered too much of a risk, and so was probably being kept in one of them.

Jordan regularly went to visit Jack every day, but Jack was beginning to ask about his father. Jordan simply blew it off and told Jack he was at work.

Jack, on the other hand, was beginning to become unsatisfied with this answer. He wasn’t stupid, after all…he knew Daddy worked a lot, but he usually saw him for dinner at least once a week…

And it had been two.

It was hard for Jack to focus on it, however, until the end of the day when his father normally told him his bedtime story and tucked him in at night. Violet kept him busy most of the day, playing with other children who could do simple small tricks.

Jack had overheard his mother arguing with Violet, in fact, about the whole thing. The toddler didn’t think it hurt anybody; it was cool to watch.

But Mommy seemed to think it was a word Jack hadn’t understood.

In the evening coming into the third week JD and Perry had been gone, Turk pored over the map that Ethan had left tacked to the table. The tunnels were crunched and tiny, and most likely dark. They had Jordan to solve that, but there was the matter of actually fighting enemies. Carla was still recovering in Hydracia, but Aiden had promised to cover as best he could.

Elliot, at best, only had the element of surprise.

Though Ethan had firmly told both Jeremy and Mary they weren’t going, both seemed determined to defy his orders.

Jeremy walked into the library as rain pelted the windows with tiny clinks. He carried two mugs of coffee and passed one to Turk as he sat down.

"Thanks," Turk muttered and sipped the coffee. It tasted no better than the hospital kind, which, as the kitchen staff had been supplying the caffeine lately, came as a bitter surprise. "What is this crap?"

Jeremy shrugged. "I made it this time. The staff doesn’t stay overnight usually."

Turk sipped again with a grimace. "You’re killing me, man."

"Having any more luck with that? My dad knows it like the back of his hand."

"We can’t take him away from the front lines," Turk retorted factually.

Jeremy raised an eyebrow. "You’ve been paying attention when he talks."

"Your mom risked her ass to save ours," the surgeon pointed out. "That’s not something I’ll take as a freebie. No one deserves to be where she’s at."

For the smallest moment, Jeremy looked very much like a small boy who was worried horribly for his mother, but the look passed nearly as quickly as it had come.

For Turk, the pain of losing his own mother was still fresh enough that he finally raised his tired eyes from the papers.

"Your mom’s tough," Turk finally said after a moment. "She’ll be fine." He sighed and pressed his eyes shut. "You know, I don’t guess there’s a way to just walk through the front gate, is there?"

Jeremy frowned. "What do you mean?"

Turk leaned back and crossed his hands behind his head. "Well, kind of like the tactic of just hiding in plain sight. I mean, Jordan’s got their element, doesn’t she? Her and your sister? And you guys know magic; couldn’t you give the rest of us a…disguise of some kind?"

Jeremy cocked his head to the side. "All the tunnels are still underground. We’d have to have a ready and able spy."

"You guys don’t have spies down there already?"

"Of course we do; we can’t jeopardize any of their current missions, is all…not without endangering them all."

"We’re talking about one spy." Turk suddenly snapped his fingers. "I think I’ve got a plan."

Jeremy leaned forward, elbows resting on the table. "I’m listening."

"These guys…the Idyllithians, you call them?" Turk waited for Jeremy’s nod. "Well, they’re after us, aren’t they?"

"Well, yes…they’ll probably ransom my mother for one of you."

"Well, why don’t we beat them to it?" Turk pointed out. "Hey, Jordan! Elliot, get in here!"

"You don’t know me well enough to order me around, Gandhi!" Jordan’s shrill voice yelled back.

Elliot, however, entered the room with reddish eyes that indicated she had been catnapping. "What?"

"I think I’ve got a plan."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Kelso hadn’t been happy when JD and Perry returned, but with the recent outbreak amongst the children and the high fatality rate, he begrudgingly signed them back in.

Perry pinched the bridge of his nose. God bless the old devil; he didn’t ask how Perry and JD seemed to be the only ones with an answer for the illness that had struck the daycare so hard, and had even drifted to a few parents and other patients as well.

With the total number of cases so high, the CDC had descended upon the hospital staff, making inquiries and doing investigations in an attempt to pinpoint the disease. Unlike Kelso, they interrogated JD and Perry in depth.

Given the recent history and the sudden turnabout, JD wasn’t surprised. After all, before they had left, patients were dying left and right. Now that they were back, they suddenly had a miracle cure.

JD opened the door to the hotel room. All three of them had been in agreement that JD’s apartment and Perry’s place weren’t safe enough to stay at. Still, fast food and room service were beginning to edge on Perry’s nerves.

Ian, however, seemed well-adapted to it, and never tired of the burgers Perry or JD threw on the table. Indeed, Ian seemed to have a curious liking for pizza.

JD startled himself awake as Perry entered the room, shaking rain off his hair as he shut the door behind him. He carried a pizza and a 12 pack of beer in his hands.

Ian had been firm about them not going out in public, and while JD had argued, Perry had reluctantly agreed.

Perry dropped the pizza on the dresser and plunked the beer into the small fridge. "When’s your shift start?"

JD rubbed his eyes. "I’m off the next 14 hours, and then on call for 12 more."

"I don’t know how much longer we’ll need to be here," Perry replied finally. "Or at least you; the patients seem to be responding well." He looked around the room. "Where’s Ian?"

"Checking in back at the castle," JD informed him, and grabbed a beer and a slice of pizza. "He’s gonna be sorry he missed the pizza."

"Kid’s got an unnatural attachment to pizza and fast food."

"They probably don’t have much of it back where he’s from," JD pointed out. "Mary had a rather unhealthy addiction to Diet Coke it seemed."

Perry swallowed a mouthful of pizza with beer. "Good. We won’t have to treat the fatties and tubbos anymore."

"Just because they don’t have it doesn’t mean they don’t have disease. I’m not gonna forget those patients any time soon." JD sat on the edge of one of the two beds. A cot was folded against the wall where Ian had been sleeping. "It probably won’t hurt though to get back soon. The CDC’s really breathing down our necks."

JD jumped in fright with a yelp suddenly as Ian slid from underneath the bed.

"Christ, don’t do that!" JD muttered, heart beating fast as he struggled to calm his churning stomach.

"They’re ready to go through with their rescue attempt," Ian replied. "They’ll be leaving tomorrow night."

"Why night?" JD asked. "Wouldn’t it be easier all around to do it during the day?"

"Not for the type of reconnaissance they’re going to be conducting," Ian stated blandly, and turned his attention quickly to the pizza. He did, however, skip over the beer.

JD had begrudgingly let him have a sip of it a few nights ago, and Ian had sworn never to touch the stuff again.

"So when will we be going back?" Perry asked. "You know they’ve been watching us ever since we got back."

"We’ll be going back in a week in order to give you two proper time to take care of your employment affairs," Ian replied as he took another bite of pizza.

"Why bother? We didn’t last time," Perry pointed out, taking a mouthful of beer.

"Last time, the situation was more dire," Ian replied as he reached for a second slice. "It’s the responsible thing to do."

"Do you ever get tired of acting older than you are?" Perry muttered and threw his empty beer bottle into the trash.

Ian shrugged. "I’ve not much choice." He stood up and pulled the cot out. "I’ll be going to bed soon; please keep it down."

Wheeling the fold out cot towards the small alcove outside the bathroom, Ian began to prepare for sleep.

JD rolled his eyes. "Kid needs to have more fun," he said to Perry.

"I can still hear you, you know."

Perry was the one who rolled his eyes this time. "I think Charlotte knew that, kiddo." He swigged from the beer bottle and began to eat another slice.

JD looked carefully at Perry, who had turned the TV onto a game in silence. The night outside of the castle hadn’t repeated itself, and JD wasn’t sure how to approach it now that it was nearly three weeks later.

He settled instead for silence and watching the hockey game on the television.

A moment later, however, Perry had sat down beside of JD. "View’s better," he muttered gruffly.

JD felt his senses become hyperaware that Perry was sitting close enough that their legs were just barely touching, and so he fell back on simply not moving. He finally had to in order to reach for another beer.

He was going to need it.

Ian rose from his cot once more when Perry began swearing loudly at the TV, but then didn’t rise again, apparently in a deep sleep.

JD watched the game, unsure all together of what was going on. "So…the point is to get the black thing in the net?"

Perry grunted an assent.

"So…you do that by hitting it with a stick and knocking other people out of the way?"

Perry shrugged. "That’s the idea."

JD shook his head, still watching to try and get an idea of the rules. However, it really only came off as a bunch of overly-muscular guys knocking the hell out of each other to swipe the puck into the goal.

Still, about an hour later when Perry switched to a football game, he leaned back. "And that is why the Detroit Redwings are the best team ever."

"Because they hit hard and score well?" JD asked cautiously.

Perry waved his hand in a dismissive fashion. "Somewhat." He looked over at JD, who was staring at his beer. "You really don’t know anything about hockey, do you, Patricia?"

"Would it matter if I lied?"

"Not really; there’s not a chance in hell you could fake your way through this one." He looked back at the football game, and decided to move back up to the head of the bed to rest more comfortably. JD’s silhouette was stark against the bright TV and the dim room, sitting stock still as if frozen.

Perry rolled his eyes. "Relax. We’re in the clear and the CDC’s not gonna be trying to shove their heads up our asses much in about a week."

JD did seem to relax at that notion, but not by much.

"I won’t say it’s all gonna be happy sunshine flowers in the end, Newbie. We don’t have the luck to just buy it quickly and be done with it though, so you know we’re gonna be fine in the end."

JD looked at him and shook his head warily. "Ever the optimist."

"I prefer realist, Mary Ann. Shut up; I’m watching the game."

JD grinned in spite of his thoughts and relaxed much more this time, leaning back on his elbows. He was about halfway through his third beer now, but it was making him more sleepy than anything. Looking back at Perry, JD noticed that the older man was staring steadfastly at the television.

Sighing and deciding it was always he who would have to make the first step in anything, JD leaned his head on Perry’s legs, exhaustion and a belly full of food combining in a sudden need to sleep.

Sprawled awkwardly over the bed, JD’s soft snores soon filled the room.

Perry looked down at the dark head of hair and the quiet movements of JD’s sleeping frame. Glaring at the television as if it was its fault for his next action, Perry let a hand drift to the crook of JD’s neck and shoulder, fingers resting lightly on the younger man’s collarbone.

The kid was still there. Perry didn’t want to look at the ugly scar that marred JD’s back, and so he gently traced the hard bone of JD’s neck in silence, eyes never leaving the television after that.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Author’s Notes: Yes, I know it’s been a while, and I am so sorry! I’m just glad I was able to get this chapter out for everyone!

Thanks so much to everyone who reads this story! I’d like to extend an even bigger thank you to the wonderful, awesome reviewers who keep putting stuff in my inbox XD I’m so sorry I haven’t been responding as well; work’s been hectic and I just now got done wrangling with school. Thanks so much to all of you who continue to read this story even though the updates have gotten slow and I’m a rude author by not replying to you! XD :hides herself under the desk to avoid the slew of rotten veggies being thrown at her:

Thanks so much again; all of your encouragement and support is very much appreciated and taken to heart. Thanks all!

xxElisexx

Wow...so...I'm not dead

Sun, 27 Apr 2008 01:26:23 GMT

Just realized the last time I was really in LJ was about...seven weeks ago. But I honestly haven't been on the comp much in any of that time. It's one of those things (again) where Dave gets the comp for most of the time because when he's home, he's on it. I'm updating here because I have a rare moment of updateage on the computer ^_^

So...in recent news, finally started something I've been meaning to do for a while, and that's cut back on my drinking habit. I'd say I'm way on the right road to being an alcoholic, and I'd rather nip that in the bud before it becomes my life. And for a while, it was. Well, screw that. Life's too short to spend every other day feeling like crap and to spend the other days looking forward to having a beer or something. There's more than that, and I've got more stuff in my life to accomplish.

Which, speaking of, finally got everything done at the school until registration. If I really push it, I can finish my English AA while starting up my Bio AA. That'll look pretty good, I suppose, when I go to apply for uni, having two associates under my belt. I was looking at my transcripts from college, and I nearly laughed myself silly because all of my English/Communication classes were a B or above...my one math class was a D, my history classes were C's and my science classes were a happy medium of B's and C's XD I really need to discipline myself into studying harder...

Any tips for how to become an overacheiving geek? XD Hard work and discipline...might as well tat them into my arm...

Speaking of tats and arms... :D Dave and I are going to be entertaining a couple of online buds from Ohio in July...it's gonna rock like a hurricane ^_^ Lindsey's pretty cool; we're a lot alike...plus she shows me what meds can do for a person XD And Adrian's a lot like Dave, except with more ink on him XD He's gonna do a couple of tattoos for me while they're down here ^_^

Part of the cutting back on my drinking is that I'm taking a few pages out of the books of my friends who do Weight Watchers...the whole point thingie. I'm not sure if I'd want to calculate that much; I know what kinds of foods are good for me and why the bad foods are bad... in any case, one of them saves up her points all week so she can have Miller Lite at the end of the week.

Plus, I've found a ton of great Zero-Point foods that are also zero-fat and nearly zero-cal...fresh veggies, good soups that are high in fiber...stuff like that...but like I said, I'm cutting back on the drinking because it's starting to take over the kind of person I am, and I really don't like that.

>.> Not to mention the hangover to end them all kicked my ass over the course of a few hours that had me struggling to gag over a toilet kinda cured me for a while XD So I've been doing pretty good for the past four or five days...and I'm loving how much more energetic I am and how much more alert I am. :) I'm also going to get back into writing down what sort of exercise I do like I used to, which is what I was doing when I was losing the most weight.

God, I've written a lot XD On the other side of it, my family might be coming to visit in May. I'm actually looking forward to it, as opposed to dreading it :) My mother sent me a reply e-mail to a forward I sent, and it was kind of nice...she's never e-mailed me before XD But she's also really busy...starts work at about 7 AM, doesn't get home sometimes until 9PM or later...she works really hard, and she taught me better than to loaf around and settle for less than what I want.

Besides, the minute you settle for less than what you want, you get exactly what you deserve. And not only do I want more out of my life then working at the BL and drinking myself into an early grave, but I'm better than that. ^_^

So anyway, just kind of feeling like I'm in a good place right now...but I've been here before, and I've crashed before several times. I'm hopefully going to stay here though, but no promises...I'm not sure how I get knocked on my ass, but it's not gonna be my lack of discipline/hard work this time. Not again, anyway. Both my parents worked extremely hard to bring up 5 kids, and I want to do them proud. ^_^ Not just for them, but for me too.

So that's about where I've been. Hauling through furniture, trying to find a good foothold for life, working with the school to go back, and also recording tons of Scrubs...

Oh! For all my of my Scrubs-buddies...hee...I have the complete Season I, Season IV and Season V on DVD! And I'm only one ep from having Season II, one from having Season III, one from having Season VI...and I have a few from Season VII...so awesome XD And, if my calculations are correct (because I've gotten into the habit of predicting episodes), I'll have Season II and Season III by May 8th, possibly May 2nd...

WOOHOO! I've been working on it for six months now...so cool...and after I get it all, I just have to categorize them by season.

So yeah...that's about it for me...I'm not sure when I'll be back on LJ...I'm still working on Looking Glass here and there...I'm about halfway through Chapter 17...I need to find a place to actually have them STOP for 2 seconds to breathe XD But that's about to happen ^.^ And maybe some more JD/Cox angsty moments and stuff...maybe even a kiss soon! I dunno...but I'll get to it ^_^

I really wouldn't mind making a huge final push towards it to finish Looking Glass before I go back to school...because once I go back to school, I'll be super-strapped for time...but sometimes I work best like that...who knows.

Anyways, I've gotta jet XD I've got work tomorrow and Monday, and I had a shift today that involved hauling 5 sofas, 4 loveseats and a couple of recliners out the door within six hours XD I don't know why I went for my walk today if that was gonna hapen XD But still, hauling furniture's more about strength-training, and the walking's more about cardio...so I'm getting both in XD

Anyways, later days!

-Katy-

My Looking Glass: Chapter 16

Tue, 19 Feb 2008 09:11:45 GMT

Title: My Looking Glass
Pairing: JD/Cox, Jorliot, Turla
Fandom: Scrubs
Rating: This chapter, PG-12 for slash mentionings
Warnings: AU, fantasy, magick stuff, slash
Summary: For every mirror they've ever looked at, they never knew the image looking back at them.
Author's Notes: No, I'm not dead! XD

My Looking Glass

Rating: PG-15 eventually, probably more later

Pairings: JD/Cox, Jordan/Elliot, Carla/Turk

Warnings: AU, Fantasy, Slash, femmeslash, OOC’s, possible OC’ness

Summary: I think we’re all pretty familiar with the summary, ne?

Author’s Notes: I do have a few notes this time…I’m so sorry about how long the updates seem to take at times; I work a lot and by the time I get home, all I want to do is sleep. Tonight in particular was…special XD In any case, I also wanted to apologize for age-discrepancies with Jack. I think I’ve called him two, three and five XD I keep trying to keep it within a particular season, when all I say for sure is that it takes place somewhere around season 5 (season 6 makes me…nauseous, to some extent). Jack’s old enough to form phrases, but not complete sentences, so I’d guess…four would be my happy medium XD

Anyway, that should about wrap it up. Thanks to all of you who keep reading, no matter how slow the updates get! And so much love for all of the people who keep up with the encouragement and compliments ::grins:: Thanks to all!

Chapter 16

JD struggled to pay attention as Erin went on, but his sense of focus seemed to flit. It wasn’t an uncommon event, he supposed, but he knew when he put his mind to it that he could absorb anything.

The most he felt he could concentrate on were the singe marks that were still near his fingers. His eyes kept flickering to Ian, who seemed to notice a few times that JD was looking at him.

Ian raised an eyebrow, but said nothing.

Erin’s fingers traced over the map of the landmass. "This entire continent here is Librisian territory." She tapped the middle. "You are here, which is known as Pathosne, Libris’s capital."

Perry raised a hand then sarcastically. "Teacher, me! Me, me, pick me!" he faux-whined.

Erin sent him a withering look. "Such a wonderful example you set for your boy. Is it any wonder," she muttered.

Perry jerked a thumb back towards the mirrors. "Before you go on what is sure to be a spiel of epic proportions that might even rival how long Medusa here can scream at her minions, I’ve noticed those wonderful, antique mirrors of yours should take us back where we belong. Now, I’m pretty sure you don’t give a rat’s ass about our lives, but we sure as hell do. If you’ll excuse us then."

Perry scritched his chair out harshly, nearly knocking it over. Anger rolled off of him in waves as he headed for the mirrors in the library.

Erin sighed. "Would you at least think about taking this new position?"

Perry snorted. "You just don’t get it, do you?" he snapped. "My kid is now fine, which means you’re not holding anything over me, which that means I don’t have to listen to a damn word you say anymore. My kid nearly died on account of you boneheads; I’m not taking another chance."

Erin rubbed her head painfully. "You don’t get it," she muttered. "You think they’re going to stop just because you want it to? They want you here."

Turk coughed loudly then to get Erin’s attention. "Why in hell do they want us here if we can kill them?"

"Because you’re powerful, not experienced," Erin pointed out. "And if you’re here, they have a better chance of killing you. Guns are faster than a muttered spell, no?"

"They sure took a good shot at JD," Carla countered.

JD still wasn’t paying much attention to anything more than the singe marks and Ian. He didn’t seem conscious to anyone’s arguing, and Ian had finally noticed the dazed look on JD’s face.

Ian sat back for a moment to see if JD would even understand.

JD ran his fingers over the singe marks, wincing when they made his skin sing with pain. Something was familiar about the scorched pattern there, and he knew he’d seen it somewhere before.

The edges of his eyes felt like they were tearing up in a blur, but his ducts were dry. He leaned back in the chair, closing his vision to try and get his mind to stay on one train instead of bar hopping like a drunk teenager.

But the moment he closed his eyes, it was like he was daydreaming. But this wasn’t like any daydream he’d ever had; this was far more real. And he was back in the odd clay room that he’d seen so long ago coming out of the hospital after saving Paige.

He was writing again. JD struggled to see closer, but his view was blurry. It didn’t want to move around much, and he felt rooted to his point of vision.

Ian cautiously put a hand on his shoulder, but JD didn’t break from his trance. Now the younger man closed his eyes, trying to see what JD saw as he gently tried to create a connection with JD’s mind.

None came.

JD swallowed hard; he remembered the dream vividly after they’d left Paige, but he’d forgotten in during the commotion with Jack. Now it washed over him with a wave of nausea as he heard the door creak in the clay room.

JD’s eyes flickered behind him, but he couldn’t see the figure. He looked back to himself at the desk. The window in the room caught his eye then.

Water…?

The voices were muffled, and JD couldn’t understand what was being said. Once again though, he watched his own face contort in anger and horror. And then he watched himself crumble to the ground once more, eyes catching the barest hint of darkened skin from an outstretched hand.

As if to make sure that the man lying on the floor were no longer conscious, something sparked sharply beside of his head.

JD jumped, and watched singe marks bloom across the floor just as he snapped back from himself.

Ian jumped as JD shot up from his chair so fast that it turned over.

Everyone was staring at him in concern. Even Perry, who still held Jack protectively near the mirrors.

JD looked at Ian’s hands. They were a different shape than the hand he’d seen just moments before, but exactly the same oddly dark-blue color. He peered curiously at Ian again.

"I think we should stay," JD finally said awkwardly, hating the way Perry was suddenly glaring at him instead of being concerned. "I mean…she’s got a point. They’re not going to stop, and we’re easier to protect if we’re all in one place, right?"

"Jobs, Newbie," Perry pointed out. "Or did you forget all four years of medical school when you swooned?"

"Hey, he swooned trying to save first your sister and then our kid," Jordan pointed out. "Lay off."

"One bout of mercy sex with her and you’re hopping right back to it, are you?" Perry seethed.

"Low blow," Carla said quietly to Elliot, who nodded in agreement.

"Mercy for whom? Baby Spice DJ because lord knows the only tail he ever gets comes from staring at your ass all day or mercy for me because the best sex I’d had before him was our wedding night and I thought you were Pablo?"

"Ooh, lower blow," Elliot said with a wrinkled nose.

Perry’s face went slightly red with Jordan’s remark. "Stay here with your newest piece of ass for all I care. Jack and I, on the other hand, are going home." He glared over at Mary. "Hey, kid…do your voodoo on this thing now."

"Or what?" Mary replied caustically. "You’ll talk for a really long time until I can’t stand you anymore?"

"That can be arranged," Perry muttered through gritted teeth. "I’ve done what you asked me to do. I came, I saw, I saved my son, I’m done. Now get me home."

Before Mary could open her mouth to speak again, however, the droning, dissonant sound of differently-toned bells began to crash throughout the room in a terrible echo.

The sound bounced hard off the walls, nearly making the floor tremble with their strength.

"But I don’t feel sick," Elliot pointed out. "I thought we were supposed to feel sick. If you’re not going to be consistent, then-"

"Shh," Violet hissed. "There’s a reason you don’t. They’re not attacking Aether."

"Where?"

"Your domain," Violet strained. "We went there last night?"

"So where are they attacking?" Turk asked suspiciously.

The bells crashed again, making Carla wince. "They couldn’t have picked a better sound? What about wind chimes?"

"Ooh, you know, my mom had some really nice wind chimes that were tuned to sound nice…funny about that…every time she yelled at the pool man, the chimes on the pool house went crazy," Elliot drifted.

"Focus," Jeremy pointed out. "Or do we need the fire marbles again?"

"If I can get a few, I don’t mind," Carla pointed out, looking suspiciously at Aiden. "They’d work great for an alarm clock."

"Oh, hell no!" Turk immediately yelped. "Vanilla Bear!"

JD patted his shoulder. "It’s okay, C-Bear; I’d never let her throw fire on your bed," he said.

"Oh, would you two get a civil union already? Utah would probably let Gandhi have another wife," Perry snapped.

Erin groaned, looking helplessly at the younger teens sitting around the room. Unfortunately, Violet and Mary seemed to have gotten involved with an argument between Turk and Carla that somehow included Aiden as well. Aiden, however, looked somewhat uncomfortable all together with the conversation.

Perry and Jordan, however, had begun another heated argument all their own, with JD having received Jack. The latter pair were trying to ignore the argument between the former, and Jack looked entirely too used to it.

A ground-shaking tremble ran across the ground then, causing every voice in the room to quiet immediately. The bells were the only sound now, their strident sounds clanging in horrible harmony.

Erin sighed tiredly. Her face was paler now, and one hand absently rubbed at her ribcage. She looked at them. "Are you ready to listen?"

JD nodded quietly, eyes having finally left the singe marks on the table. Though he said nothing, his gripping fingers dared anyone to say differently.

"Mary, escort Jack to the shelters in Aether," Erin said quietly. "Take the other representatives with you."

"Why does anyone need a shelter?" Perry pointed out, voice still harsh and strained.

The tremble ran through the ground again. Though any one of the people in the room might be used to earthquakes, this sort of shaking was vastly different.

"Surely you don’t think we only fight with magic, do you?" Erin remarked. "Mary, if you please."

Mary quietly retrieved Jack, who looked like he might begin to cry, from JD.

"No! Mommy!" Jack howled angrily, frustrated tears pricking at his eyes.

Jordan quietly glared at everyone in the room in warning before she turned to Jack. "Jacky, this is Mary. You know her, right?"

Jack nodded miserably. "I wanna stay here!"

"But if you go with Mary, then she’ll do something neat for you."

Jack sniffed. "What?"

Mary tapped his nose. "I’ll put a light show on for you. Like fireworks, but no noise."

Jack seemed to take an interest in that, but looked at his mother once more for assurance.

Jordan nodded and kissed his forehead. "I love you, Jacky."

Perry stood then with a sigh, and tickled Jack’s belly. "See you soon."

Jack quietly went with Mary then, toddling beside of her through a silver-framed mirror.

Aiden handed a small, suede bag to Carla then. "Last resort. Good way to catch someone off guard."

Carla began to ask, but Aiden had whisked behind Mary. She looked into the bag, only to find a small pile of red marbles.

"The fun never stops, does it," Turk muttered rhetorically. "Are we safe?"

Erin sighed and nodded. She looked as if she hadn’t received much sleep, and her eyes were bloodshot. "I’ll ask you all now to act like adults instead of whimpering children that have lost their mommies. Is that too much to ask?"

When Perry opened his mouth to retort, JD kicked him sharply. The older man glared at him, but JD’s face was seriously dark, giving Perry an unsettling feeling in his stomach.

"Now, the rumbles are coming from the Idyllithian armies," Erin went on. "They’ve been trying to dig tunnels to this castle for quite some time since the labyrinth around it is impossible to navigate without one of you. I fear, however, they are creating quite an organized underground missile formation. When the rumbles happen, they’re attacking with small bombs along the more populated borders of the domains."

"It’ll take forever to get to them," Elliot asked. "They know their tunnels, we don’t."

"We’ll wait for them to come to us," Erin pointed out simply. "It’s easier that way, and no one gets lost or killed."

"Except the people dying out there right now," Turk countered. "What about them?"

"One against many," Erin said coldly. "Small numbers compared to losing you six."

"I’m not going to let people just…die because of me," Turk argued back, standing stiffly. Something burned hard in his chest.

He was supposed to save lives if he could.

"Yes, you are," Erin replied. "I’m sorry, Christopher, but-"

"For the last time, it’s Turk!" Turk snapped. "I’ve had it! This is just too much." He turned stricken eyes to Carla. "Baby, let’s just go home and forget about this. Let’s go back to normal."

"Those people are going to die either way, papi," Carla said gently, tugging on his wrist. "We’re supposed to help people."

Turk hung his head miserably, the pain of his mother’s death weighing hard as he sat back down. He sighed and raised his head in determination.

"I’m not going to let them die. You tell me how to get to them; I’ll save them."

"You can’t expect me to send you into battle without much training-" Erin started.

Turk slammed his fist down on the table. "I’m supposed to be someone else? I’ve already got whosa-whatta’s powers; you just let me do this. You don’t get me otherwise."

Erin sighed, and looked at the map in front of her for a moment. "Here’s what we can do then."

XXXXXXXXXXXX

JD didn’t like waiting. He hated it even more when he was being forced to sit in an enclosed area without sound or much light.

A teenage-girl with brown pigtail braids, who had been mostly quiet and fairly calculating to the side until now, had brushed her hands over a few stones. When the stones had begun to glow a bit, JD had felt more comfortable.

But it didn’t help that Turk wasn’t there, nor was it terribly comforting to sit in the space with Ian.

Though JD knew it wasn’t Ian who had killed JD’s twin in his vision, Ian still looked like the assassin.

JD poked the oddly glowing stone. "So…the girl who made that happen…who’s she?"

Ian’s eyes were oddly alight in the darkness against the glowing rocks. "That’d be Jos." He shot JD a wry look then that suddenly lightened the younger boy’s features. "I’d be careful what you say around her."

JD didn’t know what Ian meant, but didn’t care to ask. An awkward silence followed, with JD wondering much about what to say to Ian, or at least how to ask the younger boy about what he’d seen.

Ian, however, seemed to sense JD’s pregnant pause. "You’re wondering why you completely left the conversation in the library earlier."

"Yeah…I guess…" JD trailed off, rubbing his neck. He felt dirty, and he really wanted a shower.

If greasy skin could reflect enough light to burn objects (or at least blind mop-carrying enemies), JD thought, then he could take on the world.

"Your mind’s a pretty complicated place," Ian finally mentioned idly after a moment. "I can’t really read them; you were just sending out your vision pretty strongly."

"I wasn’t sending anything out," JD replied with a bit of confusion. "I read about that stuff, but I thought I had to mean it."

"You sent it, whether you meant to or not. Did you know the man in it?" Ian asked, trouble crossing his young face.

JD, for the first time, seemed to sense real fear in Ian’s face. "Not really…I mean, he looked like you enough that I’d venture a guess that he was your relative."

Ian didn’t respond then, apparently comfortable to sift through his own thoughts.

"So…where are we anyway?" JD asked, not comfortable at all to do nothing but think. His stomach shook slightly, reminding him that all he’d really eaten in the last few days were candy bracelets and coffee. "Some underground shelter?"

The brown-pigtailed girl rolled her eyes, finally content to speak. "No, of course not. We wouldn’t make an underground safe-house just to be drilled into by the Idyllithians, silly."

JD didn’t quite know how to respond "So…where are we then?"

Jos, who’d had quite enough of watching everyone sit in hushed silence, began to toss one of the rocks she’d lit on their way in. "We’re in Lucesco. The Idyllithians almost never attack here; they’re not brave enough."

"Why’s that, small fry?" Perry asked grumpily from the corner of the room.

The older doctor hadn’t spoken since they’d left the libraries and through the white-framed mirror into the rocky room. He’d only situated himself into a corner of a room, folded his arms and radiated the aura of "leave me alone".

JD looked up at the sound of Perry’s voice, noting the tension in his voice.

Jos gave a snort that was both surprising and unexpected. "Isn’t it obvious?" she replied wryly. "It’s the light lands. They can’t see here well, even with their best-trained agents, and even if they could see as well as anyone else, it’s almost impossible to attack our people."

Perry said something under his breath that sounded very much like "rotten little brat", but he didn’t go on further.

Elliot, however, who had also reluctantly gone with them to the small rocky room, leaned forward from where she was sitting. "Why’s it hard to attack them? They’re like anyone else, aren’t they?"

"Boy, you guys are quite moronic for being relics," Jos countered with a roll of her eyes.

"Don’t get me started on what moronic is to us when it comes to your people," Perry snapped at that, head finally coming up from where he’d appeared to have been sleeping.

Jos only shook her head pitiably again, and turned her attention to Elliot. "It’s really quite an undertaking. You see, in Aether-"

"That’s the air lands, right?" Elliot interrupted. "Which is so incredibly weird, being blonde and a ruler of like…air. I guess it means I really am an airhead then, huh?"

Jos looked at her for a moment before shaking her head. "Too easy." She leaned forward, scooting one of the lit rocks to the middle space between herself and Elliot. "In any case, our people in Lucesco have a handy trick up their sleeve; a natural defense mechanism at times when we’re quite young. Some children learn to heal quickly, but most learn to teleport first."

Elliot frowned. "But I can teleport too."

Jos shook her head. "You can’t tele like we can. You’re not technically tele’ing at all, in fact. You’re simply reverting to a gaseous state."

JD smirked and gave a chuckle at that. "It’s like you-"

"JD, so help me if you make a crack about farts," Elliot snapped at him. She looked back at Jos. "You were saying?"

Jos nodded. "Men," she muttered. "But anyway, you can’t tele. People of the light lands, they have a knack for dealing with light in general. Eventually, they learned how to bend their own chemical make-up to it. They use it to travel."

Elliot seemed deeply interested in this, and moved closer to Jos to speak with her over it.

This left JD, Perry and Ian in silence. Carla, Turk and Jordan had gone with Erin to navigate what few tunnels they could, and the other representatives had taken Jack to Aether.

Perry, for however annoyed and disinterested he looked, seemed to be half-listening to Elliot and Jos’s conversation.

JD sighed as he fell back into awkward, uncomfortable silence again. He finally turned to Ian. "Do you have any family?"

Ian looked up, uncertainty crossing his features. "You were addressing me?"

JD shrugged towards Perry. "Does he look talkative to you?"

"Careful, Newbie, I can still hear."

Ian frowned then, and looked at JD curiously. "Why does he call you Newbie?"

JD gave him a blank look for a minute, as if trying to piece it out himself. "I guess it’s a nickname."

"Here, mates do not give each other names like that."

JD sputtered hard then, the combination of lack of words and saliva catching in his throat making him choke oddly for a moment.

"Did I say something wrong?" Ian asked as he watched JD flail for words. Perry’s face grew darker in the dimly lit room.

"No…it’s just…he’s not my…" JD replied, not able to finish the sentence with a word like mate.

Ian nodded. "I wasn’t aware. From what I remember of my parents, they had odd names for each other at times as well. My mother called my father "Nanai" from time to time."

JD didn’t recognize the word, but figured he was past being polite when asking about their culture. "What’s "Nanai" mean?"

Ian didn’t seem offended. "It’s an endearment…sort of like "lover", I guess. I didn’t know my parents for long."

JD looked at Ian then. "What happened to them?"

However, at this, Ian’s face grew hard. "They were killed when I was seven."

"Were you there?" JD asked automatically, and felt like he’d stuck his foot in his mouth when Ian glanced sharply at him.

"Yes. Vy’s blocked it out, I think…but she was there too. Her parents died with them."

JD glanced over at Perry to see if he was listening. The older man wasn’t looking at them, but his eyes were glaring hard at the ground in a fashion that JD interpreted as eavesdropping.

"What happened?"

Ian shrugged at that point. "I don’t know. I was playing with Vy in the house, and then…" He drifted off for a moment. "It’s not something I really remember."

JD frowned at Ian’s lack of explanation, but didn’t press the issue further. "Do you have any other family?"

Ian finally looked up. "A brother. Daniel."

"My brother’s name is…well, was Daniel too. We called him Dan," JD replied, easing back on the uncomfortable rock.

Ian relaxed for a minute, grateful for a moment to leave the other topic. "What happened to him?"

JD looked at Perry then. "He was killed too. We tried to save him, but we couldn’t."

Compassion seemed to take over for Ian, and he shrugged. "You couldn’t have, not with what little you know about your abilities."

"We could’ve done something." JD threw a small pebble at the ground. "It doesn’t matter now. He’s still dead."

Perry stopped listening at that point, but crossed his arms tighter and clenched his fists harder. Paige was still fresh in his mind, and worry for Jack was becoming hard to push away.

If he admitted it, Perry knew he was worried about Carla, Jordan and even Turk as well.

JD finally nodded to Ian. "Excuse me," he said politely, and stood up to walk over to Perry before he sat down beside the other man. "You okay?" he asked cautiously.

"Watch where you’re stepping, Isabella," Perry muttered gruffly, hoping the kid would say something…well, anything, that could give him a reason to be angry instead of everything else.

"Jack’s okay. They won’t let anything happen to him."

Perry snorted. "I know that."

"What did you do?"

"I told Jordan’s minion that if she didn’t take care of him, I’d put something odorless, colorless and tasteless into her next meal and she’d be dead in less than a minute."

JD felt utter relief stoke his heart then, and let his head fall on the hard rock. A shrill chuckle escaped his mouth, and his head fell on Perry’s shoulder as his chest shook with stressed laughter.

Perry didn’t say anything as JD collapsed beside of him, but Jos was watching when Perry maneuvered so that his arm was around JD’s shoulders.

Jos nodded her head surreptitiously towards Perry and JD. "What’s their story?"

Elliot glanced at them quickly as Perry glared back in warning. "They…ah…go back a bit."

Jos raised an eyebrow curiously. "There’s more to it than that."

Elliot smiled. "Of course there is."

Perry wasn’t watching them when his own head finally fell on top of JD’s in utter exhaustion and they both slept in the cold, darkly lit room in Lucesco.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Woman, do you even know where you’re going?"

"Turkleton, I know you weren’t just talking to me!" Jordan snapped at the front of the line. "I’m doing the best that I can; the least you can do is be grateful that I didn’t back out of this all together!"

"I was talking to the other woman; if I’d been talking to you, I would’ve said "Demoness of the Underworld"," Turk replied irritably.

"Then I rather hope you weren’t addressing myself. I’d prefer you’d call me Erin, or at least Captain Hale," Erin muttered from directly behind Turk. "Especially since I’m taking you through the trenches we have mapped. I’d like to remind you that what people we do lose are small numbers compared to you, and-"

"Losing anyone isn’t a small number," Turk interrupted her. "And that’s that. We’re just looking for the biggest attack."

Abruptly, Turk bumped into Erin, and he felt Carla smack into his shoulders. "Baby!"

Carla secured the small suede bag that Aiden had given her. "You stopped first, papi!"

"Shut up!" Jordan hissed.

Because Jordan didn’t say anything other than that, Turk stopped talking, as did Carla.

Erin spoke in hushed whispers with Jordan for a moment before tugging Carla to the front of the line.

"What?" Carla asked in a barely audible tone.

"Give me a few of those marbles," Erin asked quietly.

Carla gently emptied three marbles into her hand, and then cautiously handed them to Erin, feeling slightly relieved when the warm packet of orbs touched her skin again.

Erin retreated then back to Turk. "I need you to stand back here for a moment."

Turk frowned. "What’s going on?" he asked immediately. "And why does my wife have to be up there if I have to stay back?"

Erin sighed impatiently. "I promise you, she won’t be in any danger."

Turk nodded skeptically. "What do I need to do to keep her safe?"

Erin grasped Turk’s shoulders roughly. "I need you to stand here and put your hands on either side of this tunnel. When you see fire, I need you to collapse the tunnel."

"Are you insane?"

"No; I’m brilliant, if you must know," Erin replied without missing a beat. "Your wife and Relic Sullivan will be safe. I can promise you that."

"How the hell do you want me to collapse the tunnel?" Turk snapped in a quietly harsh tone.

Erin grabbed his hand and thrust it upon the wall. "What do you feel?" she asked, barely able to see Turk’s face in front of her own.

Turk felt his hand hit the warm, packed dirt, and felt nothing at first. After a moment, that odd feeling of vibrations that he’d first experienced with Jeremy in the Terragianian war room came back to him. They weren’t as heavy this time, and more scattered as well.

"I feel…them," Turk finally answered. He raised his other hand to the dirty tunnel, and felt it even more.

"Do you think you can bring it down when you have to?" Erin asked tiredly.

Turk flexed his fingers then. The vibrations became stronger, but so did the idea of the integrity of the tunnel itself. He looked at Erin, seeing her oddly blue eyes in the darkness.

They were almost purple.

Turk nodded. "I can," he said, hoping his voice sounded as confident as he thought he should feel.

"When you see sparks or fire of any kind, bring it down. You remember the way we came in; you’ll be able to get out with Miss Sullivan’s help," Erin said again in a restrained, tight voice. "Now, I must ask you one last thing, Christopher."

"They’re getting closer," Turk warned her as the reverberation rang through his hands and feet now.

Erin nodded. "Give this to my family." She shoved an envelope into the waistband of his scrubs pants. "And always remember that sacrifices must sometimes be made to save the greater purpose."

Before Turk could answer, Erin took off in a dead run, shoving Jordan and Carla flat to the ground as she went.

Jordan swore sharply, and Carla gave off a string of Spanish that Turk managed to translate a few words of. They matched Jordan’s sailor-type oath.

Turk, however, was more concentrated on trying to decide whether to try and catch up to Erin or not.

But then he saw the faintest of sparks off in the distance of the tunnel, followed by a few quick flowers of fire.

Turk closed his eyes tightly, flexed his fingers and feet into the dirt of the ground and walls before he struggled to pull it from his chest again to send a seismic shock throughout the earth.

With a thunderous roar, the tunnel collapsed a few feet in front of Jordan and Carla, dirt and rocks pounding the ground to seal it in a ramp that formed itself all the way to the top.

Turk didn’t think long upon whether Erin had thought that he could form a walkway to the top of the ground. Instead, he ran forward to make sure that Carla and Jordan were okay.

"What the hell just happened, Buddha?" Jordan snapped. "You could’ve stood to warn us!"

"Where’s Erin?" Carla asked. "Why did you do that? She was in front of us when it collapsed, what are we going to do?"

Turk swallowed hard. "Leave her!" he finally said harshly, and began yanking Jordan and Carla by their upper arms up the unsteady ramp to the surface. "We have to get out of this tunnel."

"Turk, what happened?" Carla asked, her voice angry and scared at the same time. Dark red had begun to glow around her fingernails, and Turk didn’t have to look to know his hands were showing green.

"Kiddies, I don’t mean to interrupt your arguing, but I think maybe the big kid here is right for once," Jordan hissed as they reached the ground surface of the dark lands, Nox. "I don’t know where we’re at, but there’s a lot of people around us, and I don’t know whether they want to come up and say hi just yet."

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"No! Do not kill her!"

Erin didn’t look up, but remained gasping on her knees. The ground was filthy concrete beneath her, and her wrists were chained painfully above her head to the wall in front of her. Her shirt was ripped and torn across her back, new and old blood making the remaining tatters stick to her skin as she let her sweaty forehead hold against the wall.

"Don’t you understand, you idiot? Even if she doesn’t tell us, she still knows where they are," the voice sneered from the doorway.

The torturer behind her lowered his weapon of choice, a cat-of-nine-tails that were accented with hard, sharp pieces of metal that dragged when they struck flesh.

Alan, a skinny man wearing dark robes of metallic black, stayed the torturer once more. "It’ll be your skin to pay if you kill her. Leave us. I can do far more damage than you could physically."

The man holding the tails glared, but finally left grumpily.

Erin closed her eyes tightly against the dirty wall as screams drifted down the hallways.

Alan surveyed the woman’s torn skin repulsively, not daring to come near it. "That really is quite disgusting. I imagine it’ll scar."

Erin didn’t reply.

"Quite noble of you, saving the necks of these pathetic children you’ve brought to defend the last vestiges of your failing country."

Biting her lip, Erin still did not reply.

Alan smirked then as he neared her, careful not to get his robes near the dripped blood that stained the floor.

"You know, of course, that we haven’t an expectation of receiving any useful information from you." His lips curved in unholy glee. "This is simply fun."

Erin shoved her head and ground her teeth when Alan began to recite spells.

XXXXXXXXXXX

It took an hour of careful stepping, with Turk following Jordan and Carla in the deep forest. It was pitch black, something that only Jordan could lead them through at this point, and Turk gave an extra security by struggling to feel any vibrations he could.

Like Jordan, however, he could sense many people nearby; he simply didn’t know if they were friendly or not.

Still, Jordan kept leading them, insisting more than once that she knew where she was going. It was her domain, wasn’t it?

Carla, on the other hand, was growing quite frustrated at not being able to do anything. She only walked between Jordan and Turk’s careful steps, the suede bag clutched between her hands like a lifeline. Her mind raced with thoughts of what had happened to Erin, and how they were suddenly on the surface.

Jordan stopped again abruptly, struggling to see figures in the distance before continuing. Turk stopped as well almost exactly when Jordan did, so Carla was the only one who bumped into a person this time around.

Carla only clenched her fists tighter around the bag. This was just stupid.

"Look, we’re on their territory, aren’t we?" she finally asked quietly and angrily. "Anyone we see should be friendly."

But there was no snappy reply from Jordan. The only sound that came now was a choking, guttural gagging that came from directly in front of Carla.

"Jordan?" Carla asked.

"Baby, please…be quiet," Turk hissed.

Carla struggled to see in the darkness, but could just barely make out Jordan in front of her as the awful hacking sound continued.

"Jordan," Carla hissed.

No reply came.

Finally done with doing nothing, Carla pulled one of the small marbles from the bag and threw it down as hard as she could.

The marble giving enough spark for brief lighting, Jordan’s hands were finally seen beating at her own chest, struggling for air.

Carla drew three more marbles out upon instinct. She threw two into the distance and threw the third directly in front of her. Hoping that she knew what she was doing, the two seemed to spark tiny fires and then extinguish.

The third that Carla had thrown at her own feet caused the same little fire. Without thinking, Carla shoved her hands towards the small fire and drew small balls of flame into her hands.

Jordan looked at her with terrified, oxygen-deprived eyes and pointed in a direction.

The ground suddenly shook underneath Carla’s feet as Turk slammed his fist into the dirt, grinding his fingers into the leaves and soil. Carla threw one of the fireballs in her hands towards the direction Jordan had pointed in.

Jordan immediately hit her knees, gasping for air in horrible, gaping breaths. She still lifted one hand, pointing in a new direction now.

The vibrations ran again under Carla’s feet, and she threw the other fireball.

Jordan struggled to regain oxygen from the sudden, awful feeling she’d had moments before from when it felt like someone was crushing her windpipe. The feeling was back again; someone else’s instincts were taking over.

Struggling to her knees, Jordan raised herself up, whipping her hair from her face. She suddenly shoved one arm in a wide radius.

To her surprise and horror, everything around her seemed to freeze briefly. The fireball Carla had thrown stopped for just a few seconds, and the flitting of the forest floor had stopped mid-reverberation.

Jordan looked at her own hands, struggling now just to keep up. Air had finally returned to her lungs, and though it still hurt and she was exhausted, she struggled to repeat the effect, this time concentrating on anyone in front of her.

Carla and Turk kept moving, hauling her to her feet.

"What did you do?" Turk snapped as they began to run.

Jordan shrugged. "More than causing an earthquake." She let them help her then, not sure if she could carry her own weight. Whatever she had done, it left her even more tired than before.

The lights of a nearby village were glowing in the distance now, but the arrows flying past them were growing faster as well.

Carla felt her muscles screaming, but she shouldered Jordan once more. "One more time, Jordan…do that thing!"

Jordan stopped them, and made herself turn. Knowing know that she was effectively freezing people for very short periods of time, she swept both arms this time widely in front of her (funny how she always thought she’d feel stupid doing something like this; now, she only felt like she was saving their stupid skins).

Carla dumped the remaining five marbles into her palm and threw them hard at the ground. Turk seemed to know what she was doing and he jumped, landing hard on the ground with both feet and fists.

It pounded a seismic charge into the ground that made Carla drop Jordan.

Jordan hit her knees, and nearly fell face-first into the dirt, but Turk caught her at the last minute and continued to drag her towards the glowing lights of the nearby village. Carla caught Jordan’s other side and began helping Turk.

Jordan struggled to make her legs move, her thoughts now centralized upon finding safety. She thought she heard a screech of pain before she passed out and a drop of support on one side, but she wasn’t sure.

It was just dawning when they finally reached the village and safe housing.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Alan washed his hands calmly outside in the private bathroom of his master. Kenneth, a stocky man bred to war and physical fighting, already sat inside the master’s private chambers, awaiting orders based upon Alan’s reports.

Drying his hands quickly upon a too-soft towel that left Alan’s hands feeling damp, he entered the private chambers again.

Kenneth dwarfed the couch, huddled on it like a giant upon a child’s swingset. His red hair was bushy and wild, barely tamed in a ponytail low upon his neck. He sat stock still, and Alan didn’t blame him.

If the brute moved, he might break something.

Alan adjusted the ring on his finger, chain clinking upon his hand. "Milord," he said in greeting as a skinny, tall man with jet-black hair entered the room.

The man nodded, passing a hand over Alan as he went. "Your report?"

"She was not able to pass on much information, I fear," Alan said hesitantly. "Only that her child is one of their representatives."

"Another half-breed, I take it," the skinny man spat contemptuously. "Is she dead?" he asked, voice completely changed now to that of desperate curiosity.

"No, milord," Alan replied. "She is in the chambers now."

"I want her alive," the skinny man said, and his tone indicated that he’d said it more than once.

"What of the three that got away?"

"That battle is lost for now," the lord replied, waving his hand in a dismissive fashion. "Let them lick their wounds like the dogs they are. They’re here, and that’s what both Libris and I wanted." He stood at the one, small window in the room that didn’t reveal much light.

There was never much light in Idyllithia after all.

"Kenneth," the skinny man suddenly ordered.

The stocky man stood, grateful now for something to do.

"Keep your attacks strong upon the Hydracian and Aetherian borders. I fear that the Noxian borders will be lost, and we both know that Terragiania and Infyrio are beyond our powers."

"What of Lucesco, milord?" Kenneth asked, bowing his head.

The skinny man began to speak in an angry fashion, but stopped before he’d said anything at all. He paused long, one hand raised still.

"Begin a scale of attack upon Lucesco that you would upon Terragiana in a week’s time. I believe that the new Relic of Lucesco isn’t quite the man that was there before."

"Yes, milord." Kenneth quickly left.

It left the skinny man and Alan again. Alan grew nervous once more, shifting darkly from foot to foot.

"See that she gets medical attention."

"Milord?" Alan replied curiously.

"Just enough that she isn’t crippled by what our brutes did to her. We’re not savages, after all."

XXXXXXXX

Author’s Notes: Yes, I know it’s been a while, and yeah, this isn’t as long as my usual installment. But again, I’ve been working the full 40 hours a week for a long time now, and I’ve been focused on getting my car back on the road, and I’ve had personal issues blocking my writer’s fuzz for a while. As a result, this particular chapter’s probably a bit fuzzed here and there.

I still hope you enjoyed! I’ll try to have the next installment out soon…with the Christmas season and inventory-counting finally over, I hope I’ll have more time. Plus, my car’s fixed, so I’ll actually be into and out of work at the correct times. Before, I was getting to work sometimes six hours before I had to be in…and at times, I was leaving four hours after I was supposed to leave.

I PROMISE I’ll do a massive reviewer’s corner next time around XD I’ve been so lax with updating that my usual organization of reviews got away from me ::gahhhh:: It’s gonna take me a while, either way. I’m really sorry this took so long! Real life’s just been kicking me around lately XD Thanks again so much for anyone who’s still reading!

xxElisexx

Libris Table Experiment

Mon, 26 Nov 2007 11:09:08 GMT

So, yeah. For those of you who are fans of Looking Glass, I'm writing a table for the original version for Libris. There are no spoilers for the actual story (plot-wise in Looking Glass), and those of you who have discussed the inner-workings of the Looking Glass will know what most of everything means. I need to post it somewhere.

Meh. Anyway.

The table, by the way, that I'm using, I got from Jay, who is using it as a JD/Janitor table from 100_Drabbles Community. Check it!

Hundred Pennies For One Thought

Universe: Libris

Libris Summary: The summary for this story is that a magical world opposite of Earth exists on the other side of the mirror, and six adults from Earth are now next in line to rule a magical country.

Summary for HPFOT: This is based on the 100 Drabbles challenge on LJ. I haven’t yet e-mailed the author for permission, but that will (hopefully) soon be taken care of. I’m using the LJ drabbles because I’m having a bit of trouble getting started with the story itself, and so I’m using the table to get used to writing with the OC’s instead of fanfiction. Enjoy!

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Prompt: 01. Beginnings

Aaron took a deep, calming breath before he followed Jeremy into the Terragianan mirror. The uneasy frown fell away as Aaron forced himself to relax.

Remembering that he was now a ruler of a country, Aaron let a steady smirk slide cockily over his face. It was all a matter of how he presented himself. As long as he acted like a ruler, then people would treat him as such.

Jeremy bowed his head. "I’ll just get the steward of Terragiana. He’ll have the morning paperwork for you to sign and look through."

Once Jeremy had left, Aaron didn’t allow himself to heave a sigh of relief (no matter how much he wanted to). Not only could he do this, but he would do this. He thought briefly of his sister, Hollee, but didn’t find much time to dwell on her as a knock was sounding on the door throughout the stone office.

Propping his feet casually on the granite table, Aaron concentrated hard as he slapped a hand against the wall beside of him. A pulse of vibration ran through the rock until he pushed the door open.

"Relic Taylor, this is Alex McKee, the steward of Terragiana."

A middle-aged man with pale, thinning hair stepped forward. He held papers and files in his hand with a disdainful look upon his face.

"Relic Taylor," Alex bowed his head, but it was evident that he held no respect in his voice for the title. "I expect you’re ready to begin the more basic tasks of ruling our domain?"

Aaron raised an eyebrow at the disrespectful tone. "Yeah, I think I’m pretty capable." He brought his feet down then, but let his left boot hit the floor hard enough to make the floor pulse beneath Alex and Jeremy’s feet.

The desired effect was immediate, and landed both men to their rears.

Aaron jumped up and peered down at Alex, whose papers and files now littered the floor. "God, how clumsy of me; my apologies, man!" He cheerfully yanked Alex to his feet. "I don’t guess I know my own strength just yet."

Alex gave him a furiously unsteady glare, but he bowed his head again. "Not to worry, Relic Taylor. If you’ll excuse me, I’ll just find someone to help clean up in here."

Jeremy rubbed his tailbone painfully with a withering stare to Aaron. "You mind telling me the next time you feel like being an ass?"

Aaron smirked and began to pick up papers and files with Jeremy. "Now why would I do that? It keeps you on your toes."

XXXXXXXXXXX

02. Middles

If it had been any other time, Hollee supposed she would have handled Violet’s interruption a little better. As it was, Hollee had just come from the myriantium mines in Aether, and she had spent the whole day inside the dirty caves in order to observe the working conditions.

It had all been fine and dandy until there had nearly been a cave-in.

Hollee had nearly had a heart attack getting herself out, and was in the middle of a mild anxiety attack when Violet had come in to let her know that they were due at the sunset meeting soon.

Which explained why, covered in myriantium dust and trembling from head to toe from anxiety, Hollee had delivered a high-frequency verbal assault that still had Violet’s pale eyes and ears red, even after the sunset meeting.

Hollee sighed guiltily as the meeting wrapped up. She hated apologizing, but she hated hurting someone even more, especially when it was for no good reason.

"Hey, Vy," Hollee called as everyone rose to leave.

Violet jumped at her nickname and ducked her head. "Yes, Relic Taylor?"

Hollee winced at the meek tone. "Vy, listen…I’m…well, my actions earlier were uncalled for, and I’m…"

Violet felt a tic of amusement begin at the corner of her mouth. "Yes?"

Hollee glared haughtily at her. "It was…unfair," she continued to rush out, "Of me to take out my day’s frustration on you. Even if you did just pop in right out of the blue." She narrowed her green eyes then. "You’ve got to quit doing that, by the way, because I’m so not used to it yet and it’s really creepy."

"But you’re…?" Violet trailed off expectantly.

Hollee shot daggers at her with her eyes openly now, frustration creeping up again. "You know damn well that I’m sorry for yelling at you. Just quit popping in out of nowhere when I’m in the middle of things!" Hollee whirled and stalked off, anger forcing her body to turn airy and translucent as she did so.

"You enjoyed that way too much," Mary remarked beside of her as she packed her schoolbooks.

Violet nodded and began to reply when a sudden thrash of air knocked her flat to the floor. High-pitched laughter that was reminiscent to Hollee’s rang through the air.

Mary raised an eyebrow. "Well? What have you got to say now?"

Violet shrugged as she got up. "Worth it."

XXXXXXXXXXX

03. Ends

XXXXXXXXXX

James hated the end of the day. He loved the fell of the glass factories as the mountainous fires melted the endless amounts of Infyrian sand down into liquid that would be pulled and drawn into crude shapes of glass.

He liked helping the artisans pressure the fire into volatile marbles that would range in side to serve everyone from the prankster teens to the Librisian armies.

He hated, however, washing up at the end of the day. His fellow rulers understood and never minded that he showed up to the sunset meetings reeking of sulfur and trailing soot behind him.

Liz had even started saying it reminded her of the brightest fireworks in a clear, winter sky filled with lesser stars.

James still knew, however, that they would complain if he showed up smelly and dirty at the morning meetings as well. He sighed as he surveyed his dusty, dark face in the castle’s kitchen mirror, and noted the still fairly tender scar across his neck.

Sighing once more, James finally stuck his hands under the water tap in the kitchen to remove the top layer of grime from his skin. It made the shower later less painful.

Liz came in then, and eyed his discomforted features. "Poor little fireworks," she remarked airily. "Doused by that which cleanses but gives no baptismal." She patted his shoulder. "It won’t hurt forever, firework."

James smiled at her distant face. "Thanks, Liz."

Liz pulled his hands away and slipped water from the tap. The water hovering just over her hand, she surrounded James’s dirty hands with her own.

"There, there, firecracker. It can’t hurt all the time," she said again, and dumped black water from her hands without warning. She dried her fingers off and left the kitchens.

James looked at his hands, which were now clean. He couldn’t ask Liz to do that every day unfortunately.

That, however, explained why he hated the end of the day so very much. Even if it wasn’t every end of the day.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

04. First

XXXXXXXXXX

Charlotte glanced around the hospital room in Lucesco with a frown. She had been briefed vaguely on what her purpose was at the hospital, and-ultimately-it was either death or life.

The power had manifested at first as being able to heal, but the power was more the ability to pull life energy from others, and taking it upon herself. She wasn’t meant to heal here; only to take away the patient’s pain so they could die painlessly of fatal wounds.

The irony wasn’t lost upon her, but Charlotte soon forgot it once she met her first patient, who was a young Aetherian magic-user with a horrible chest wound that ran from shoulder to waist.

The girl looked at her in horror. "I’m…I’m in Lucesco, aren’t I?" she asked in a trembling tone.

Charlotte nodded uncertainly. "Yes, you are. I’m Relic Atkins."

The girl’s face immediately crumbled into tears and pain. "I don’t want to die! Send me back to Hydracia; they can fix me there!" Her voice grew gurgled as she spoke, blood spattering against her white face. She made non-verbal sounds that gagged in her throat as the blood bubbled in her wounds.

Charlotte froze for a moment with her mouth open. "I…I’m sorry, but-"

"I can’t die!" The girl choked then on her blood, eyes wide as they became frantic. She grabbed Charlotte’s wrist. "Send me back!"

Charlotte felt the wave of terrified pain as she began to draw the hurt and pain from the girl.

The girl gagged, spitting blood and bile into the floor. A few moments later, however, and she was silent.

Jos stood reluctantly aside4. "You must not look at their face," she finally said quietly and as strongly as she could manage, though her first patient was all too fresh in her mind from three years ago. "It drives even the strongest insane."

Charlotte didn’t respond, still staring at the dead girl in quiet shock.

"Shall I call the transporters while you give the final blessing?"

"Just leave me alone for a minute, would you?" Charlotte muttered, sending Jos into a scurry. She looked back at the dead girl’s face and leaned down quietly. "I won’t forget your face; you were my first."

A few moments later, Charlotte administered the final blessing and began to try and move on to the next patient.

XXXXXXXXXXX

05. Last

Hollee let her feet dangle off the high, rocky cliffs of Aether, wondering what the sunset would look like here. She could just barely make out the line of the ocean beyond the lower mountain ranges, and the sun was just barely turning both to different colors.

"Hey, Holls." David sat casually beside of her, but noted her distant face. "Your brother sent me after you. He said that he got tied up with Jeremy over in Terragiana, but that he’d never forget." He shrugged here. "Whatever that means."

Hollee grinned, but didn’t look at him. "Thanks; I know you’re not huge on relaying messages."

David shrugged. "Something on your mind?" He peered carefully over the edge of the cliffs, and immediately slid away from the ledge.

Hollee smirked at him, an impish look that David didn’t see on her often-worried face. "Afraid?" she asked.

"You can fly. I’d rather not see if I can."

"I could make you."

"Again, I’d rather not."

Hollee chuckled as she nodded. "Fair enough." She glanced at the approaching sun. "I was just trying to remember the last time I’d seen a mountain sunset."

"Erin knows we’re here, right?"

"Yeah. She’s got fourteen people watching both of us, and she disabled the Sunset Laws for today."

David nodded. "Something special?"

"My parents died four years ago today. Aaron and I always watch the sunset together."

Saying nothing, David nodded and looked out as the sun kissed the horizon and began to display vivid blues, pinks and purples.

Hollee beat the tears away as she counted how long it took instead. "I wish it’d last forever."

David sighed and glanced around, turning his senses on to the receptiveness of the astral plane. "How about half a minute longer?" He raised his hands to his side and thrust them widely to the sky, concentrating hard to keep their current plane of dimensional existence absolutely still.

Hollee did cry then, in that half-minute, and remembered it only as one of the few sunsets she would ever see outside of the castle’s confines. She never understood after that particular day why David joined her for other sunsets, or why he was exhausted afterwards. They were, however, always timeless for David and Hollee both.

XXXXXXXXXXX

06. Hours

XXXXXXXXXX

Liz couldn’t recall how many weeks or months she had spent with Idyllithia, but she could say how many hours and minutes instead.

In fact, she had been with Idyllithia for (exactly, mind you) six-hundred-and-fourteen hours and forty-six minutes before some boy covered in soot and smelling of flowery-fireworks had taken her away, proclaiming that she was now safe.

Liz sat on the sandy beaches in Hydracia, her features confused. She was safe, and everything was now a locked-tight memory. She now remembered only the cool waters and medicinal smells of Hydracia.

Frowning, Liz stared at the cloudy sky. She was safe, except for days like today, where the numbers 614 and 46 kept flashing before her eyes. She knew the hours and minutes were important, just as Hollee’s incessant mind-always full of numbers-was significant as well.

Liz knew the airy relic with eyes like the leafy forest floor had lain amongst crimson, dead flowers and silent, gray pain for three hours and twenty-three minutes. Hollee, with her oddly neutral aura of silver, took exactly one hour and thirty-three minutes to finish morning paperwork.

Poor girl…so full of empty numbers.

Liz dove into the water to get away from the cloudy sky that bore her own numbers. Rain spattered above her on the surface of the water, the numbers 614 and 46 forming above her. She swam deeper, towards the medical labs and underwater cities.

The hours, Liz knew, were important. But they were part of that locked-away room. Past that shut door only lay bright orange screams and black, dry fear.

And Liz, as she approached the door to the airtight hospital, stayed away from that locked door.

Liz glanced at the clock as she went to sign her name into the roster. She frowned then hard, something struggling to rise painfully in her chest. She shoved it away once more and scrawled her name down.

The flowers caught her attention on the way out as the receptionist noted the time and roster number she had signed in under that morning.

At 6:14 AM, Relic Liz Richardson had signed onto roster number 46.

XXXXXXXXX

07. Days

XXXXXXXX

David watched the buriers sling the last bits of dirt and mortar against the recently-dead corpses in the wall, bonding them for eternity with the other decaying bodies that made up the walls of the catacombs. The smell wasn’t the moldy disgusting smell that David had expected, but still, it was a cold, stale scent that held death on its tail.

Heading for the stairs with Mary, David began to climb. He wondered vaguely what day it was, as his days had begun to blend together in a routine of funerals, burials and rituals.

David was no stranger to the disorientation of days, but he wondered when Libris had started to seem normal. He glanced back at Mary, reminding himself that this had always been normal to her.

Mary stopped with him near the first level of the Dead City. "Relic Cross?" she asked curiously.

"I’ll see you upstairs, squirt," he replied, affectionately rubbing her head.

Mary nodded, though the question was still in her eyes as she left.

David ran his hand over the dried bones in the empty hallway, and felt power surge through him as purple filtered from his hand and seeped into the wall.

The bones against his hand began to shift and roll in excitement, and David shrugged away the sensation that he could hear disappointed murmurs throughout the hallway. Dully ivory, the bones reoriented themselves and joined back together with sickening pops and dryly awful crunching.

Once done, however, a skeleton turned its skull back to David, empty eye-sockets staring at him in question.

David smiled at his creation. He never chose the body; it always chose him. "Come on, Bones," he said in a tone that was different than the one he used when speaking to Mary.

Without question, the skeleton followed him in subservience.

"What day did this become normal?" David asked as the skeleton followed. The relic didn’t expect a reply from his creation.

But that was the point, after all. Reanimated creatures rarely came back with the ability to speak.

David continued to talk as the skeleton followed without question and in silence. He grinned as the day’s events began to fade. Skeletons made the best friends, in the long run. They never spoke, and expected very little of him.

Skeletons always let him forget what day and time it was at all.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

08. Weeks

XXXXXXXXXX

"I really don’t care what your people are pissing and kicking about; you can tell them to kiss our-"

"I can’t change their minds overnight, David!" James cut him off. "This kind of thing takes weeks, months…years…or did you sleep through the Civil Movement classes?"

"You’re not helping but letting those punk-ass brats run around with fire marbles to toss at my people!" David retorted.

James glared at him in his office in Infyrio. "Like your "punk-ass brats" summoning up the Legion of the Dead is fair either!"

David waved his hand angrily over the mirror in the red-stained stone office. "You’re not enforcing the age restrictions for those mini-bombs and you know it!"

James grabbed David’s forearm. "And you’re not making sure those little darklings running wild about your domain understand the responsibility that comes with being able to reanimate the dead."

"Let go!" David jerked his arm free. "We’re done."

James glared at him. "Or what? You’re gonna bring back some mute undead piece of shit that you consider your bestest friend ever just because you know a real live person’ll tell you what an ass you’re being?"

"Better that than hiding behind a physical deformity," David replied in a low, seething tone, leaving through the mirror in a too-calm fashion that made James sigh hard.

James narrowed his eyes at the mirror, locking it furiously with a wave of his hand. He leaned against it heavily, staring hard at his scar-littered arms. He touched one arm experimentally and convinced himself slowly that if he could physically feel nothing, than emotional meant very little.

Meanwhile, David brought back three skeletons in the length of time he needed to talk.

It was weeks before either finally spoke again to the other, and it wasn’t much.

James stared around David’s office. "I’ve spoken with the security advisors about the age requirements, and suspended the sale of entertainment-purpose fire marbles until we can get a handle on it."

David nodded, fingers twitching over his leg beneath his desk. "I’ve suspended summoning skills to any unless it’s an emergency, and that includes myself."

James raised an eyebrow. "Something on your mind?"

David rolled his eyes. "Don’t make a big shit out of it." He stood, making sure his hands could remain still before he did so. "Take a walk with me."

"Nothing down there’s going to eat me, is it?"

"Of course not."

James gave the stairway a wary look. "You sure?"

David grinned and swung an arm around James’s shoulder. "Have I ever lied to you before?"

James snorted. "Good thing I’ve got holy water then."

XXXXXXXXXXX

09. Months

XXXXXXXX

Aaron sat with James and David in the library, playing cards in a game of poker. He settled two of his cards down, and drew two more.

"I finally looked at a calendar today," Aaron commented as he threw in a few quarters. "Did you guys know we’ve been here for ten months now?"

James snorted as he met Aaron’s bet. He still said nothing, nor did he add more to the pot.

David shrugged as he put down three and drew more. "Been a while since I looked. I don’t really keep track of time. It flows differently here anyway; what’s the point?" He met the quarter-bet as well, but then raised a few more.

Aaron grunted as he met David’s bet. "If you don’t keep track of time, why do you always watch the sunset with Hollee at the same time of the month?"

David rolled his dark eyes. "I also argue with you and/or James at the same time every month." He put down his royal flush. "Maybe you’re just all on the rag at the same time." He scooped up his winnings over James’s four of a kind and Aaron’s inside straight. "Evening to you both." He left the room, pockets jingling.

James muttered something derogatory about David’s parentage.

Aaron only gave a good-natured chuckle as he began to shuffle the cards easily. "Seriously, man…ten months. What do you think?" Aaron asked amicably as he dealt to the two of them.

James shrugged warily. "I think you ask questions when you’re bluffing and also to see if others are bluffing as well."

"You’d be right, but that doesn’t answer my original question."

James threw his cards down then. "I think more than six months anywhere makes someone hope too much for a real home. No wonder your sister’s so neurotic if she has to put up with you all the time." He banged the door open as he left.

Aaron, however, still gave a smile. Those two knew how to make a dramatic exit that was for damn sure.

XXXXXXXXX

10. Years

XXXXXXXXX

Charlotte inspected her face in the mirror scrupulously, fingers tracing the planes and angles of her cheeks and nose. She had long lost count of how many years she had lived in Libris, been ruler of Lucesco…and yet, she still hadn’t changed a bit in any of that long time.

As first, she had simply thought that since time passed faster in Libris than Earth, that she wasn’t aging as quickly. Immortality wasn’t real, and she’d thought Erin had been making a joke when they’d last spoken of it.

But today, she would go to see her brother’s great-great-grandchildren. As it was, she had lost count of the numbers of "great’s" tacked onto to other people’s children in Lucesco that she trained to be priests and priestesses in the hospitals.

Charlotte sighed as she prepared to go to Earth for the last time. She simply couldn’t stand by and watch more relatives live full, complete lives and then pass away from her.

As she entered the library, Charlotte raised an eyebrow at David. "What?" she asked bluntly.

David shrugged. "Hollee said you weren’t going back after today’s trip."

Charlotte nodded. "Hollee would be correct, but she’s also got a big mouth. My plans were solo."

"Like always," David grinned at her as he opened the one transdimensional mirror in the library. "Who says I’m going for or with you?"

Charlotte suddenly returned his unemotional grin. "Like always," she agreed.

It was a quiet day between them, where David went else where and Charlotte spent time with her family.

Upon their return, David look at his ex-wife’s solemn face. "Say, Lottie…"

Charlotte looked up at the rarely-used endearment as they entered the library. "Yeah?"

David’s gaze was carefully guarded. "Do you ever regret coming here?"

Charlotte saw something clouded behind his face that made her hug him spontaneously. "Never."

David grinned into her neck. "Like always."

XXXXXXXXXXXX

11. Red

XXXXXXXXXX

Sometimes, Liz dreamed only in red.

Liz never remembered dream color, except for blues and reds, but she most often remembered red. Whenever she dreamed in red, it had her waking up in a cold sweat that was familiar and forgotten at the same time. She knew she should remember it, but she preferred to use her mind towards other more important complexities.

When Liz dreamed in red, she woke in the middle of the night. She would then sit in bed for a bit because inevitably, a knock would come on her door eventually.

It was always James.

They would proceed to sit and talk until the early twilight of dawn began to shine in with deep blues through Liz’s window. James would kiss her hand then and leave for his own bedroom.

Liz looked out her window in her room. She hadn’t dreamed at all that night, but James had come anyway to talk.

Sometimes, Liz wished she could remember the green and gray nightmares before her dreams of red and blue. She knew fireworks did not touch the water in passion, lest one or the other found themselves extinguished.

Liz watched James kiss her hand then wordlessly leave the room. She brought her knees to her chest, hand close to her mouth, and watched the blues of twilight fade to the morning sky.

Her first vision had been tinted red. Visions, however, were than dreams and color held more significance in the former of the two.

Before the end of their first year in rule, too much blood to measure would be spilled, and Liz already knew one of the relics would be adding to the simmering pool of copper scents.

Liz only needed memories of gaunt gray and a vision of red to determine who.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Author’s Notes: That would be the ending of the first installment. Hope you’ve enjoyed!

xxElisexx

Again, hope you've enjoyed; thanks for taking a looksie!

Chapter 15, My Looking Glass

Fri, 02 Nov 2007 22:28:29 GMT

Yes, I'm not kidding. Chapter 15 is finally done...what a beastie XD Nasty little horrid thing. Anyway XD

Title: My Looking Glass
Rating: PG-15 for slash, language, mature situations, etc
Pairings: JD/Cox, Jordan/Elliot, Turk/Carla
Warnings: Slash, femmeslash, OOC's, AU, magic
Summary: Beyond the glass lies another world that desperately needs help. Past the mirror, lives will change forever.

My Looking Glass

Rating: PG-13 or T for now

Pairings: JD/Cox, Jorliot, Turla

Warnings: AU/AR, magic, OC's, language, slash, femmeslash

Author's Notes: Guh, I am so sorry…I’ve been working nearly full-time for the past month or so, and before that, I was job-hunting. In any case, this chapter’s kind of disjointed, but I’ve been through it several times and can’t seem to fix it. I hope you enjoy anyway though!

Chapter 15

Perry stared around the gothic décor in the office in Nox. He grimaced at the colors, and looked immediately around for Jordan. He had barely had time to notice the young man in the corner when JD bumped into him.

"Christ, Newbie, watch where you're going!" Perry snapped, and then headed over to the young man, temper and worry tearing him in two.

Kalen turned around as he heard the voices and thuds, frowning in confusion. "Can I-!" He felt his voice stop as an older man with curly hair picked him up from the ground neatly by his collar and shook him hard.

"Where's my son?" Perry snapped, fingers tightening around Kalen's shirt. When the man didn't answer, Perry's eyes narrowed and he snarled. "Losing a pencil would upset me more than killing you right now, so if I were you, I'd open up that great gaping mouth of mine and tell me where my kid is!"

JD gently clasped a hand over Perry's shoulder. "I don't think he can breathe."

Kalen grabbed Perry's hands and struggled to grip them. "Downstairs," he gasped out. He fell to the floor suddenly as Perry dropped him. "I can take you."

Ian stepped through the mirror next, and looked in alarm at the necromancer lying in the floor. "What happened to you?"

Kalen stumbled to his feet. "The guy pretending to be a pro-wrestler," he muttered, straightening his shirt.

Perry made a move to grab the kid again, but JD held his shoulders. "Annabelle, unless you want me to kill you next, you'll let me go."

JD stepped in front of him. "We're here to help Jack, not hurt the people."

The door opened then, and Mary entered the room, still looking pale. She glanced at Perry, JD and Ian in vague surprise.

"I wasn't expecting you for quite some time," she mentioned. "Did something come up?"

Perry felt like tearing his hair out and glared at JD. "Let go of me."

JD looked at Mary. "We're here to help Jack like we said."

"This way," Mary replied, and jerked Ian up to the front with her. "We could've used a bit more time; Jordan's still freaking out."

"Whose problem is that?" Ian retorted. "Where is the Noxian Relic?"

"She's still in one of the funeral rooms downstairs," Mary told him as she slid her hands to open the elevator again. "We've performed the ritual already, but Jack only has a few hours beneath it before the keepers help him to cross over permanently."

Perry's head jerked up at that, but JD took his hand before he could comment. "Newbie, you're obviously not thinking clearly right now."

JD only squeezed his hand in return. "Just…just calm down. For right now, all we know is that Jack's okay and that Jordan's with him. We're going to help him."

Perry didn't think he could stand thinking otherwise, and rubbed a hand over his face. He glanced over at Kalen, who backed away instinctively.

"So who are these two? I don't recognize them as being allowed into the City," Kalen asked irritably. His neck was still sore from where the older man had picked him up off his feet.

Ian looked at Kalen with a roll of his eyes. "This would be Relic Perry Cox and Relic John Dorian."

Mary snorted at the titles of respect, but Ian jabbed her sharply.

"Your mom wants to have a talk with you once you're done explaining things to Jordan," Ian remarked.

"Mom always wants to have a talk with me." Mary stepped off the elevator, and glanced at Perry and JD. "We've had to induce your son into a coma to keep the virus from spreading any further."

"You what?" Perry snapped. "If you did that, why isn't he in a real hospital?"

"Because it's not that kind of coma," Mary replied edgily as she led them down the winding stairs. "This is a more…deep sort of sleep."

JD frowned. "What kind of deep sleep?"

Mary didn't answer until they'd reached the third floor down. "It's sort of like death, but not."

"You killed my son?" Perry roared.

Mary winced. "Please keep your voice down. This isn't the kind of place you want to scream too loudly in."

Perry glanced at the walls, noting that JD's hand had tightened around his own. "Christ…what kind of place is this?"

Mary stopped at the door that Jordan and Jack were still in. "You're in the Noxian Dead City. This is where we bury our dead and perform other necromantic rituals."

"Necromancy?" JD asked with a frown. "You practice raising the dead?"

"It's not important for you to know right now what we do," Mary remarked. "What is important is that you save your kid. It's my life on the line if you don't." She pushed open the door.

Perry stiffened as he entered the dimly lit room, but his eyes fell immediately to the table in the middle. Jack lay still upon it, a small flower of red staining his t-shirt. He ran to the table immediately, staring in horror at the deep knife wound.

"What happened?" Perry snapped. "You call this taking care of him? What the hell did you do?"

"Perry, stop."

Perry turned at Jordan's voice, noting the hoarsely thick quality of her voice. He saw the bloody dagger in her hands next.

"It's what we had to do; he's not dead," Jordan went on, struggling to wipe the tears from her face. She rubbed the sleeve of her coat over her cheeks. "Mary says he's just sleeping pretty deeply, and that he’s hanging in limbo."

"You killed our son?" Perry asked in disbelief.

"Yes," Jordan snapped, tears starting anew in her eyes. "And now you and DJ have to fix him."

"I don't heal!" JD yelped, going backwards until he bumped into Ian.

Ian pushed him forwards again. "No, but you'll have to help him know where to help Jack. He can't see it the way you and I can."

JD looked at Perry, who looked torn between screaming, murdering someone, and just breaking down. Taking a deep breath and reminding himself that this wasn't like Dan, JD pushed the sleeves of his sweatshirt up.

On a shaking breath, JD placed his hands over the motionless child's chest. Fear and discomfort were running a race through his chest as he struggled to focus on Jack's illness once more.

This time, when Jack's body came into clear view in his mind, the black stickiness was worse, and looked as if it had wrapped itself around the small throat. Something was trying sluggishly to run up Jack's spinal cord near his brain, and the gooey substance had filled Jack's chest and heart completely.

Then there was the knife wound, which had neatly pierced Jack's heart.

"Come on, Perry," Jordan whispered. "Save him."

Perry looked brokenly at JD, emotions and thoughts burbling horribly close to the surface quicker than he could cover them up.

JD opened his eyes and looked at Perry. "It's not frozen; they've slowed it down to a crawl with whatever they did. Come on, you can do this."

Perry shut his eyes for a moment before approaching the table on the opposite side of JD. His hands were already sputtering in the darkness from JD's usage of power, but they brightened considerably as he brought his fingers and slipped them under JD's hands.

JD felt the image blur for a moment as Perry's hands slid beneath his own. "Can you see what I'm seeing yet?"

Perry frowned. "No, of course not."

"Start here," JD went on tiredly, wishing he could just transmit the image to Perry to make this easier on the both of them.

Perry looked down to where JD's hand had moved just below Jack's lungs. He sighed hard and slipped his hand to the same place.

Mary gestured to Jordan. "They might need your help; this is a very difficult virus to heal," she mentioned.

Jordan looked at the dagger she still held. The dried blood was making it sticky, and her fingers felt vaguely numb. She also felt tired, and there was something odd prickling in her mind that felt dead.

Still, she stumbled over to the table.

JD watched as the blackness seeped lightly into the light around Perry's hands. Some of the area near Jack's lungs seemed to clear for a moment.

Mary glanced at Ian. "Who sent you? We were going to bring Jack and Jordan back to the castle in Pathosne."

Ian shrugged. "Your mom sent us. There really wasn't a choice, Mary. Jack might not have made it to the castle."

Mary sighed and glanced at Kalen. "So, offended three rulers in one day…you've got me beat."

Kalen grumbled and didn't reply.

JD felt Perry's hand connect with the underside of his palm, and the sucking feeling was back in his chest. The older man was taking energy again.

Perry felt like his head would explode, and his stomach rolled as he took in the sickness that had been plaguing his child for so long. He only hoped this would be enough to cure him all together.

JD sighed as the blackness changed to a murky, greenish-gray, and the sluggish progression around Jack's neck drifted back down.

"You're doing it," JD mumbled, surprised at how weak he suddenly felt and how much energy he'd just given up to say that.

Jack still didn't move on the table.

Jordan noted that JD had suddenly propped himself up on the table, and that Perry wasn't looking so hot either.

"Do you need-" Jordan began to ask.

"We've got this, Jorderoo," Perry snapped. "Just let us do our work."

Jordan pushed away the accusatory tone in his voice, and stepped back. If they didn't want her help, fine. As long as they brought Jack back to life, she would be content.

Or as content as she ever was. She looked over the scene in front of her for a moment to see if Elliot were there.

Jordan didn't want to think much about how hurt she felt when Elliot wasn't there.

XXXXXXXXX

"Hey, wait! I wanted to go with them," Elliot muttered as she watched JD and Perry disappear into the mirror with Ian. She stamped her foot. "Frick!"

The girl in front of her could've been 12 or 20, though Elliot knew she was around 17 like the other teens. Her hair was fine and an odd shade of blonde that looked lavender in the correct light.

Elliot told herself that it was everywhere then that had the "correct light" because Violet McKaye seemed to have lavender colored hair all the time.

Violet shrugged as Elliot rejoined her. "It's not customary to allow just anyone to go to Nox."

Elliot sniffed. "I really need to be there for my friend."

"The dark woman?"

"Yeah." Elliot sighed as she and Violet headed for the stairs that would lead to the ground floor. "She's a good friend…well, sort of. I don't really know what she is, but I promised her I'd go with her."

Violet stuck her hands into her jeans pockets. "The Noxian rituals, by law, aren't permitted to be witnessed by anyone except the Noxian relic, the necromancers, or the representative."

"So what do you guys like…do?" Elliot asked. "I mean, are you representatives kind of like…replacements or something?"

"Not really," Violet remarked. "More second to you in the domain's government. We rule there if you can't be there, or fight when you're detained."

"Fight?" Elliot squeaked. "Like really fight?"

Violet nodded as they approached the table with Erin. "Defend the country, yes."

Elliot shook her head. "Are you guys sure that you haven't made some kind of mistake?"

Erin seemed to be saying something quietly at this point, so Violet shrugged once more. "Well…anything's possible. But the auras do not lie," she pointed out as she hopped up to sit on the table instead of a chair. "Why is it so very hard for you people to believe this?"

Elliot shrugged, crossing her arms. "It's just…weird, and believe me, I know weird."

"But it's not strange to us, and we've studied your way of life," Violet pointed out. "We find it peculiar that you are so resistant to this sort of thing. It's only magic."

With a roll of her shoulders, Elliot sat down beside of her on the table. She was getting a headache that felt like someone was taking a mallet to her head in a steady beating pressure.

Violet looked at her. "Are you feeling okay?"

Elliot sighed. "Just a headache from all the overkill you've been feeding us," she finally said after a moment. "It'll go away once I get used to everything. So about this fighting thing…it's not like…a fistfight, is it? I mean, I can defend myself; I grew up on an orchard with lots of thieves, so I totally know how to beat someone up. In fact, there was this one time that I totally kicked-"

A thud and a sharp curse interrupted Elliot's diatribe, and they both turned as Erin looked up.

Carla was stepping through the mirror as Turk picked himself up from the floor. Jeremy came through last with an irritable look on his face.

"Real bright one, he is," Jeremy muttered, stepping over Turk and to his mother. "I've brought them, as promised."

Erin rolled her eyes. "Good. You want to take a quick trip to Lucesco and Infyrio to fetch their assistants?"

"Is that what you're calling us now?" Jeremy muttered. "I'm tired, mom, give me a break. Can't Violet or Mary do it?"

"Hey, I've been talking to my charge for an hour now," Violet pointed out.

Elliot didn't really hear Violet's comment, or anything really that was going around her. She kept hearing a low rumble in her ear, and the headache was progressively getting worse.

"Stop muttering, you big baby," Carla admonished, and turned to Erin. "How's Jack?"

"Being healed in Nox," Erin told her as she stood. "How was your trip?"

"Strange." Carla looked around the library now with wide eyes. "This room is huge."

"Wait till you see the mines in Infyrio," Violet replied, hopping off the table. "Or the cliffs in Aether that I was telling Elliot about. Right?" She turned back to Elliot, who was currently doubled over, holding her stomach.

Elliot didn't look up, her stomach rolling in warning. When she felt a cool hand grab her shoulder, she jumped.

"I'm not big on touchies," Elliot edged out in a strained voice. She glanced at Carla and gave a wan smile. "Hey, you made it."

"No thanks to this joker," Turk muttered, glaring at Jeremy. "You could've said something about that being a big step!"

Jeremy shrugged. "You didn't ask."

"I'd think it was a given, man. Not cool," Turk retorted, and looked over at Elliot. "You don't look so good, Elliot."

Erin frowned and glanced at Elliot now too. "Do you feel sick?"

Elliot finally gave in and nodded. "It's really nothing; I'll feel better in a little while. My headache's getting to me."

Violet shot Erin a warning look that went lost on Carla, Turk, and Elliot. "You wouldn't think to send her."

Erin shrugged. "They're tough, Violet."

"Baby, that was a real first step," Turk mumbled to Carla. "Or I'm having sympathy pains with Elliot."

Carla rubbed a hand over Turk's head. "You don't feel like you've got a fever."

Before Turk could answer though, two long, differently pitched drones began to reverberate through the room, the floor trembling beneath their feet.

Elliot jumped with a squeak. "What the hell is that?"

Erin groaned and spoke quickly with Violet and Jeremy in a different language. They both nodded and walked over to the mirrors.

Erin approached the three adults again. "Those are the warning bells in the castle. They are usually controlled by a bell-ringer in the other domains. When they're rung there, they ring here by a ringer in the attic of the castle. They've different pitches, like different alarms in a building for its different sectors."

"So what's it a warning for?" Carla asked with a frown.

Erin sighed as Violet nodded at her. "It means we're being attacked. Well, that Idyllithia is launching an attack of magical or military proportions upon two of our domains. Notice there are only two pitches ringing at the moment?"

"Mom, we've got to go," Jeremy said hurriedly.

Erin waved at him sharply. "Just a moment." She glanced at Turk and Elliot. "You two. The lower of these two pitches belongs to Terragiana. Christopher, commit that tone to memory. You'll have to be able to recognize it in the future, should you stay. Elliot, I mean the same to you as well."

"So what's it mean then?" Elliot asked, her tone shaky. "What does it mean for us if you're being attacked?"

"You and Christopher feel sick, don't you?" Erin pointed out.

Turk looked up. "You know, you can call me Turk, woman." He crossed his hands behind his head. "And we feel sick because of all your crap."

"You feel sick because your health is tied to that of your domain," Erin rushed on, ignoring his statement even though anger burbled just under the tone of her voice. "The sicker you feel, the worse off it is."

"Mom, enough talking!" Jeremy snapped. "Or there'll be nothing left by the time we get there!"

Erin sighed and ushered Elliot and Turk to the mirrors. "Turk, is it? You'll be going with Jeremy. Elliot, you'll be going with Vy. They'll show you what to do once you get there."

Turk whirled around. "I am so not down with this right now, lady! What the hell is going on?"

Erin rubbed her temples as Jeremy exited through a mirror with faded green framework and Violet went through one that held laces of silver in the oxidized metal.

"You want to know what I'm not down with?" Erin snapped. "I'm not down with more of my people dying because you're scared to do something beyond your comfort zone. I promise you that you will not die tonight; you will return unharmed." She held Turk's shoulders then, and warily stared at him. "We are tired, Christopher. Please do this."

Turk sighed, staring hard at the mirror that Jeremy had just disappeared through. "Nothing's going to happen to us?"

Erin nodded, a note of desperation crawling into her face. "My word, if you care to trust it."

Elliot shifted towards the silver mirror. "I'm going." She disappeared herself after Violet through the mirror.

Turk looked at Carla then, who only smiled in a small way and nodded at him. He sighed and looked at the mirror again, thoughts racing through his head faster than he cared to keep up with. It was overwhelming, at this point, and he finally glanced back to Carla.

"Love you, baby," he grinned, and passed through the green-tinged mirror.

Carla sighed and sat down at the table with a flop. "That's the man I married."

Erin smiled softly at her as she sat down as well. "They're all like that, Carla. And they don't get better in time."

XXXXXXXXX

Perry rubbed his head against his shoulder, hands still glowing white and the aura reaching past his elbows. Sweat stained his shirt when he pulled his forehead away, and he glanced up to JD, who looked pale and tired. His fingers and hands were shaking from the effort of continuing the healing process.

"Jordilicious," Perry said, hoping his tone was more casual than he felt. "Newbie's about to swoon; you want to help him?"

Jordan looked up from where she had finished wiping her bloody hands off with a towel that Kalen had brought her.

"How the hell do you think I should do that?" Jordan pointed out. "My powers don't tend to run for the living."

Perry rolled his eyes. "Always positive as ever," he muttered. "Just…look, just put your hands on his shoulders."

JD looked up at that. "But she's got…dead powers. She's the new reaper!" He turned his head fearfully as Jordan approached him.

Perry snorted as he moved his hand slightly up to Jack's neck. "We knew that before, Brenda. Now we just know it's true."

Jordan sighed and glanced at Mary. "What's he talking about?"

Mary was speaking quietly with Ian, but turned back to Jordan now. "He's talking about an energy transfer. It's a taxing heal for this particular virus, and it's taking everything he and his friend have."

Jordan sighed, rubbing her temples. "But they'll be able to do it, right?"

Mary nodded. "Provided that you can revoke the ritual you performed earlier, Jack should be fine when they're done."

Jordan sighed and walked over to JD. "Listen good, DJ. You tell anyone that I was touching you and I'm going to rip your heart out through your throat. Get it?"

JD nodded with a wince. "Got it."

"Good." Jordan slid her hands over his shoulders then, and concentrated on the coolly dead air that blew past her face and stung her nose with acidity. The feeling of power started in her stomach this time, uncurling as her hands began to glow purple and something began to flow from her chest unfamiliarly. She frowned at that, but didn't remove her hands from JD's shoulders.

JD stood up a bit straighter, breathing a sigh of relief as his knees quit shaking. "Thanks," he finally mumbled.

"Don't let it get around, baby spice," Jordan muttered. "Fix my son."

Perry looked up at JD. "ETA, Newbie? How's he looking?"

"His lungs are clear," JD said after a moment. "There's still something wrapped around his esophagus though."

"Same sticky crap?" Perry asked with irritation. "I've been working on that for half an hour."

JD shrugged. "I can't help that; I'm telling you what I see." The hands on his shoulders were making him feel slightly stronger, and he proceeded to try and give it over to Perry, who looked like he was about to drop as it was.

Perry sighed and rubbed his head against his damp sleeve again. "Does it at least look like it's going away? I can't keep doing this forever."

"Then we'll help," Mary pointed out from the corner. Her head still hurt, and she knew she couldn't touch Perry without hurting him right now, but there was still Ian in the room. "He's your son; we'll help."

Perry sighed and felt the crackle of rejected energy pass between his hands and JD's. He winced, but forced his body to take what it could at this point. It made him feel sick, but definitely stronger.

JD sighed and squeezed his eyes shut again. He was tired; they'd been at it for well over an hour now. Even with Jordan giving him anything, he was still giving it directly to Perry. He glanced up to look at Perry's concentrated features, the desperate determination filtering through his hands and eyes.

"We'll get this," JD said quietly.

Perry raised his head to look at JD, his fingers now still from when they'd been shaking earlier. JD's face was pale and sweaty, but also focused and serious in a way that almost looked foreign on the younger doctor's face. His hands shook above Perry's, skin contacting lightly off and on like a hummingbird's wings.

Shaking his head slightly, Perry focused on JD's face and on pushing the intense need to heal his son through his hands. The kid’s face held an almost sickly pallor that looked foreign from his usual goofy smile, and his features were frantic and hard.

Perry didn't know how much longer he could stand to look at JD's expression. It brought out too many emotions that he wasn't sure he had left. He had seen the look on JD's face while they had attempted to heal Dan.

That hadn't worked.

Perry wasn't ready to face the fact that they might not be able to heal Jack. But JD seemed to be intently set on doing everything short of giving his own life, and even that was up for debate.

Perry felt his heart skip a minute, and he wasn't entirely comfortable with it. One of his hands was still poised over Jack's chest beneath JD's, and upon impulse, he grabbed JD's hand above his own.

JD did look at him then in the eyes with a strange intensity that Perry wasn't sure he understood, nor was he sure that he wanted to understand it.

Taking a deep breath, Perry tightened his grip on JD's. "We're going to fix him."

JD nodded. "We are."

Jordan looked at the subtle emotions passing between JD and Perry, and frowned. It wasn't like she hadn't seen it coming, after all. It was still an entirely different monster to think about when she could see it plain as day.

Perry closed his eyes, finally breaking the physical eye contact with JD, but still feeling something deeper that pulled at his chest as he fed to the natural need to heal his son.

JD struggled to breathe; his heart was skipping madly in his throat. He swallowed hard, and pushed any and all emotion flowing through him into looking at Jack. The black grip around Jack's small throat had finally faded to the sickly gray that indicated it was finally going away.

Jordan frowned hard behind JD; her knees felt shaky, and even the cold wind in the room of bones couldn't make her feel better. She gripped JD's shoulders harder to keep herself standing upright.

Perry looked at JD’s hard wince as Jordan’s hands tightened over his shoulders, but paid it little attention. His chest had begun to hurt now, and it felt raspy. He felt JD’s hand shake once against his own in warning once more.

"Almost done there, Newbie?" Perry asked.

JD nodded. "It’s almost gone."

Mary tugged on Jordan’s sleeve. "You’ll need to save your energy now. You have to reverse the ritual when they’re done, remember?"

"You think you two big strong men are done using my help now?" Jordan asked, her tone condescending in hopes it would ground them both, but also because it’d make Perry wake up a bit more.

Perry glared at her. "We were fine before, demon. I’d tell you to go back to hell where you belong, but I’m guessing we’re already there."

"Concentrate," JD muttered. "It’s almost gone."

Perry glanced back to JD, and looked at Jack’s white face. "We’ve almost got you, Jack."

XXXXXXXXX

Turk stumbled this time as he came out of the mirror behind Jeremy, but he didn’t fall. He caught the corner of a chair to steady himself, the headache worsening as his stomach rolled.

"Dude, did it ever occur to you crazies that making your rulers feel sick like this wasn’t a great way to let yourselves know that you’re being attacked?"

Jeremy gave him an annoyed stare. "It’s not we that are being attacked. You are physically linked to Terragiana. That’s what my mum was trying to explain to you before you ran off in a huff." Jeremy tilted his head condescendingly. "Or do you always act like that?"

"You keep talking to me like that, and I’ll be acting a whole lot worse, kid," Turk retorted angrily. "You ever heard of Angry Black Man Syndrome?" He missed JD then, terribly, as he remembered the syndrome they’d both came up with.

They were going to be famous one day with it.

Turk followed a wordless Jeremy into the dim office. It was made mostly of solid granite, with tall windows against the side of the building. One door looked unscathed and rather normal, save the dark green finish that had been applied to the wood.

The other door, however, (the one Turk hoped Jeremy wasn’t leading him to but he was wrong) was also wooden with a green stain. It was difficult to see in some places, mostly because the door looked like it would fall apart with the barest puff of breath. The wood was splintered and cracked, the hinges rusty and dirty.

The doorknob gave an indignant squawk as Jeremy turned it, and the door released a whiny groan of protest when it opened.

"This is the war room in Terragiana," Jeremy relayed quietly. "It is here that you usually defend the magical borders of this domain. The borders are important; an ancient enchantment left over from the older days before our records and historical documents were lost."

"Lost?"

"There’s no time for that," Jeremy muttered. "We’ll tell you all about it later. Traditionally, Terragiana supplies the true physical military force that generally hold them back. It isn’t enough, however, without keeping up the barriers."

Turk surveyed the room. It appeared as if a strong tornado might have whipped through it at some time, and no one had bothered to repair it. The stone of the walls were chipped and sparkling in the candlelight, and there was no furniture, save a bleak looking pedestal in the middle of the hexagonal room.

The pedestal made Turk stop for a moment out of an instinct he didn’t understand.

Jeremy raised an eyebrow at it, but gestured towards the pedestal. "This is where I will show you how to protect Terragiana."

"It’s not going to kill me, is it?"

"It shouldn’t."

"Shouldn’t?" Turk yelled indignantly, thinking of how many times he’d told a family or patient that a treatment or surgery should work. "What do you mean, it shouldn’t?"

"I was joking, calm down. It won’t kill you," Jeremy muttered, hoping the stricken look would fall from the older man’s face. "Look, it’ll all be fine. You’ll be tired; that should be it."

Turk looked skeptically at the pedestal. "This thing is gonna save your country?"

"Just this domain," Jeremy retorted impatiently. "Come on, already. It won’t bite."

"Sure?" Turk stepped forward anyway, looking skeptically at the small, benign-looking glass orb that rested in a clawed-handle on top of the pedestal. It was darkly transparent, but Turk placed a hand near it anyway.

Turk jerked back with another indignant yelp when the orb glowed to life under his fingers to a dark shade of green.

"What the hell, dude? Why can’t you tell me about these things?"

Jeremy shrugged. "Because I get some kind of insane, perverse pleasure from seeing you freak out."

Turk glared at Jeremy. "Not funny, man."

Rolling his eyes, Jeremy gestured again to the glass ball. "It’s supposed to do that. Can you just trust us?"

"What, and let you make me fall on my ass again?"

Jeremy, if nothing else, knew when to fall back on lying. "It’ll all be fine, seriously. Just put both your hands on either side of the orb."

Turk watched as Jeremy raised his hands, and placed them just outside of either end of the orb, palms facing the thick glass. Turk followed suit reluctantly, resisting the urge to jerk backward when the orb’s glow grew brighter.

"It supposed to do that?" Turk asked blithely in annoyance.

Jeremy nodded. "I’ll let you know if something’s going wrong, alright? Just calm down."

Another roll of his stomach, and Turk nodded reluctantly. "So what am I supposed to do?"

"Just let me start it. You’ll catch on." Jeremy’s eyes were luminous in the darkness, green reflecting off of his tanned skin ethereally.

Turk could see his mother’s features in the boy’s face then, but gave another nod of acquiescence to Jeremy’s order. He felt the light touch of Jeremy’s rough palms over his fingers, and raised his head when smooth words started coming disjointedly from Jeremy’s mouth.

Jeremy frowned as he struggled to remember the incantations he’d been studying with Mary. They’d both decided last year to learn how to cast the defense barriers the relics normally saw to, but Mary had always been better at memorizing spells.

Turk frowned as Jeremy stopped a moment in uncertainty, but didn’t have time to think about it as the ground beneath his feet began to shake and tremble. Turk planted his feet more firmly, spreading them to shoulder-width.

Jeremy continued then, recognition on his face. The ground gave another jolt beneath his feet, and he struggled to transfer the spell’s power to Turk’s hands.

"Keep repeating what I do now," Jeremy said calmly, though his chest shook with excitement. If he pulled this off, he’d be in so much trouble, but maybe his sister would quit teasing him about his lack of magical capability.

Turk nodded, and stuttered out the Latin words that Jeremy said slowly for him. The heavy feeling started first in his feet, grounding him to the shaking ground. It rose slowly through his legs, and settled heavily into his chest.

His mind began to drift then, memories and dreams of someone else interrupting his thoughts and taking over his mouth. The words came easier then, and began to fluidly draw themselves out of his vocal cords.

Jeremy looked up as Turk’s face slowly calmed down and the older man’s hands snapped to the orb with an instinct that Jeremy wanted to crow over. A surge of power, however, knocked Jeremy flat to his rear as a bright, forest-green aura exploded into the room and the floor rolled in warning.

Jeremy looked wildly to the door; he’d never actually heard of anyone witnessing this. He crawled roughly on the dirty floor, and rolled out of the room as the floor crackled beneath his feet and the static of magic ran through the room.

Turk looked oddly at the orb in front of him as the green grew brighter and the aura was over his hands and arms. He didn’t take his eyes away though as someone else’s instincts took over him and he was simply watching himself perform the action in front of himself.

The ground vibrated and hummed, and Turk felt the footfalls of thousands of soldiers suddenly, feeling it when they hit the ground, feeling it when they attacked. It made him slightly disoriented, but he continued to say words that he couldn’t swear he knew what they meant.

Another part of his mind did.

That was when the ground cracked loudly beneath his feet, and the green aura exploded over his entire body, alighting the entire room and shooting beams out against the sparkled, broken granite.

Turk didn’t remember anything after that, but he knew he’d just done something that was definitely close to being cooler than holding a human heart in his hand.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

JD passed out the minute Perry stopped the healing power for Jack. He hit the bony ground hard, no one able to move fast enough to catch him.

Perry stumbled backwards, sweat stinging his eyes and exhausting creeping over his body. He moved out of the way quickly as Mary yanked Jordan forward to bring Jack to life once more. He didn’t hear the words that Mary and Jordan murmured together, but he could clearly remember hearing Jack ask for juice.

It was enough for Perry at the moment, and he felt his head hit the ground when he gave into the exhaustion. The last thing he remembered seeing was Jack’s face peering down at him, and then turning to look at an unconscious JD.

Mary sighed, her own system screaming with weariness. Jordan didn’t look like she was faring much better, but a new wave of energy seemed to have entered the woman upon seeing her son awake and well.

Jack peered up at his mother, struggling to recall the vaguely creepy hands that had tended him while he slept. He thought it was a dream. There were lots of people, he knew. And they were all nice. He remembered now that they’d called themselves "keepers", and that he was going to be fine.

Jack shook his head and greedily locked his arms around his mother’s neck. Those "keeper" people hadn’t been entirely dumb, he thought. They were nice anyway. But they weren’t anything compared to his mother.

"Oh, Jack…" Jordan trailed off, struggling to keep the tears at bay in front of Mary and Kalen, who were both checking over JD and Perry.

Ian confirmed their case of exhaustion, and wordlessly gestured Mary and Kalen out of the room to retrieve help to carry the two unconscious relics to the castle. He felt the trembling of the ground once they were back in the Noxian office, and wondered idly who was being attacked.

He sure as hell hoped Hydracia stayed safe, since he knew JD wouldn’t be able to accomplish much more than drooling in his sleep tonight.

Jordan only held Jack like he’d disappear if she let go of him. "You can have anything you want, Jacky," she finally said when Jack asked again for juice.

Jack cocked his head to the side and wondered if he could get that neat light-up machine toy he’d seen at the department store a few weeks ago before he’d gotten sick.

XXXXXXXXXXX

Carla sat worriedly in the library of the huge castle the next day. She had gone to sleep alone, and woken up the same. She had explored the castle a bit once she’d woken, and noticed a few people in a kitchen she found towards the rear center of the building. They were clattering busily around it, bustling pots and pans.

The strong scent of coffee made Carla politely tap a young woman on the shoulder to ask for a cup.

The young woman turned with a bright smile, but the minute she saw Carla, she dropped to her knees with her head bowed.

Carla felt her face turn red at the time, heat rising steadily into her cheeks. She had left a few minutes later with a cup of coffee that smelled like heaven, and too many questions about if she’d want anything else to go with it.

Sighing, Carla finally found her way back to the library and pushed on the heavy, oak door. She didn’t expect to see Erin sitting there with six other people. Carla recognized Jeremy, Mary, Violet and Ian immediately, but the last two teenagers were foreign to her.

Erin looked up cheerfully. The battle had gone well last night. Much better, in fact, than she had expected. It was only confirming her suspicions though that this set of relics were not only the ones they’d been looking for, but much more then they could hope for at this point.

It was a miracle.

Shaking her head, a few strands of brown hair falling over her tanned face, Erin pulled out a chair next to a teenager that Carla didn’t know.

"Where’s my husband?" Carla finally asked pointedly, refusing to sit down.

Erin left the chair pulled out. "He’s still sleeping. I’m afraid the first time a relic sets the barriers like that, it’s rather trying on the system. He’ll be fine once he awakes."

"Where’s everyone else?"

Erin finally gave up and sat back down herself. "Sleeping. I assure you, they’re fine. Miss Sullivan and Perry came back with John and Jack last night. They were also suitably tied up, as was your friend, Dr. Reid."

Carla sighed and sat down. The last thing she wanted right now was to face a room full of magic people who wanted to bog her down with the tales of their war while her friends were sleeping upstairs.

The abandonment was quick to feel, but Carla pushed it away and looked at the young man beside of her. He was short and stocky, with brown hair that was a bit too long and curled at the ends. His eyes were dark, with the hint of amber near the pupils, and it appeared the sun had tanned his skin to a dark olive.

The other thing that stood out to Carla were the scars running a rampant maze over his arms, neck and up the side of his face.

"Don’t worry," he said with a grin. "You’ll have enough to match mine by the end of the year."

Carla’s eyes widened. "Not if I can help it," she muttered.

Erin raised his eyes back to the boy. "Now’s not the time," she commented. "Carla, this is our representative of Infyrio, Aiden Williams. Aiden, this is your new relic, Carla Turk."

Aiden gave another cheerful smile. "We’ve really been needing you down there."

Carla gave an uneasy grin with a nod. "Yeah." She turned back to Erin. "When did you say everyone was getting up again?"

"Aiden, will you escort Carla to Christopher’s room?" Erin asked. "I’m still waiting on the other representatives to come through and brief me a bit more on last night’s skirmishes."

Aiden shrugged. "Sure." He got up and shrugged at Carla. "Nothing went on in Infyrio last night really. It looked like the Idyllithian armies might turn from Terragiana though on their next attack. There were some more debates in the mines though over better working conditions, but a strike doesn’t look imminent."

"Woah, little guy," Carla interrupted him. "Let’s go ahead and just get one teensy little thing straight."

"Yes, Relic Turk?"

Carla wrinkled her nose. "Firstly, it’s Carla. Secondly, I’m not sure why you’re going off at the mouth with a lot of stuff that I don’t even know, but either way, I still need at least one and a half cups of coffee to function, and another to think coherently." She gave the young teen a strained smile. "Are you okay with that?"

Aiden nodded quietly. "I wasn’t sure if you’d been briefed enough yet to understand."

Carla rubbed the bridge of her nose. "Just take me to my husband, okay?"

Aiden nodded again. "Though you will have to eventually listen to me "go off at the mouth", as you so eloquently put it."

"You’re on the right road for a bitchslap."

Aiden frowned. He didn’t know what a "bitchslap" was, but it sounded painful. He turned down a left hallway once he arrived at the top of the granite, circular staircase. Sunlight poured in through tall windows at either end of the hallway, and doors were on both sides.

It was nearer to the end of the hallway when the doors weren’t the same finished wood anymore. They were still wooden, but intricate locks lined the doorknob, and each door was a different color.

Carla frowned as she passed the red door, and frowned harder as Aiden led her to a green door.

"I know you’re not thinking I’m going to sleep separately from my husband," Carla said pointedly.

Aiden shrugged. "It’s been a while since any of the relics were actually…married."

Carla wondered at the unsaid portion of his unfinished remark, but she didn’t ask as Aiden knocked on the door politely.

"Go away, woman! My shift doesn’t start for another two hours!"

Carla pushed Aiden out of the way and banged harder. "You open up this door right now before I break it down, Christopher!"

Turk jerked awake in bed at the angry screech and looked groggily around the unfamiliar room. He wondered for a moment if JD had finally pulled off the prank of having him wake up around miniature furniture and appliances to make him think he’d become a giant.

He shook his head and put his feet on the floor. The banging still continued and he approached the door with caution. There were locks everywhere it seemed, but as his hand approached the first lock, a series of clicks and ticks began to sound.

Turk jumped back as the locks unwound and clanked against each other as the hammers released. He finally opened the door to find his angry wife and a boy he hadn’t met before. The boy looked fairly chagrined, but slightly amused at the same time.

"Why, honey? Why?" Turk asked pitifully. "I’ve got a headache that could kill Kelso."

Carla snorted. "Grow up." She grabbed his ear. "Aiden, is it?"

Aiden nodded. "I just wanted to say that-"

"I just wanted to say how much I care." Carla glared at him. "Not a bit. Be a real sweetie and get his shoes." Carla dragged Turk away by his ear, his whimpers falling on deaf ears.

Aiden winced as he entered the room, which was decorated in different shades of dark green. He finally found the sneakers at the foot of the bed, and trailed silently after Carla and Turk to make sure they didn’t get lost.

XXXXXXXXXXX

Perry checked Jack over once more, but was still unable to turn up much more than the straight scar running over his sternum. He gave a withering look to Jordan as Jack played with a small toy that Erin had brought for the child.

Jack liked tops more than lights.

Jordan spun the top again. "Don’t look at me like that, Per. I did what I had to do."

"You killed him."

"And he’s obviously fine," Jordan pointed out. "You would’ve done the same."

"No. If I’d known how serious it was, I wouldn’t have left with that manchild in the first place."

Jordan rolled her eyes as she pulled a shirt over a squirming Jack. "Yes, you would have. You knew Jack was sick when you took off."

"I didn’t know how sick he was," Perry insisted, pulling Jack into his arms again.

Jordan let him do it reluctantly. "You knew how sick he was," she argued simply. "And you still left." She shook her head sharply when Perry opened his mouth again. "You wanted to try and save your sister. You succeeded. You didn’t save DJ’s brother. Your son is fine." She rubbed a hand over Jack’s head in worry though, and took him away from Perry.

Perry glared at her as she left and wondered if this place had aspirin or scotch. He was going to need both to get through the day.

He wandered through the first-floor hallway, wondering where the kitchen was. He finally came to a swinging wooden door and banged it open, still needing to take it out on someone.

It wasn’t his fault, exactly, that Jordan always got the last word. Nor was it his fault that the servants running busily around the kitchen seemed scared to death of him. He took it all in stride, long-used to interns who ran about in the same way.

Just like chickens with their heads cut off attempting a Chinese fire drill.

Perry finally left a moment later with only a cup of coffee, having been told that most liquors were kept in Nox. He frowned with the knowledge that it meant having to see Jordan at some point that day.

He’d be damned though if he’d let that get in the way.

Perry opened the doors to the library irritably, his day completely ruined. He felt achy, the argument with Jordan was still riling him and he wanted to hold his son. When he entered, he felt several pairs of eyes on him, and none of them were JD’s.

Perry had already begun to accept the fact there was something there. He frowned sourly. It didn’t mean he had to like it, and it certainly didn’t mean it was returned.

Much.

Flopping down into a chair, Perry glared at Erin. "So can we go? We saved your stupid country, and as much fun as it’s been, my son’s okay now. I’ve got no reason to stay other than to think about kicking your ass to California and back."

Erin frowned distastefully. "Are you always this rude?" she asked in clipped tones.

Perry snorted.

Jordan rolled her eyes. "Oh, don’t mind him. He’s just mad because his boytoy isn’t awake yet."

If Perry could’ve jabbed her, he would have. He settled instead of looking at a sleepy Elliot, who was nodding off in her chair. He wondered if his legs would reach her chair, but settled for verbal sparring instead.

"At least I didn’t shove a knife in our child’s chest and then say you saved him when I did all the work."

"You and Baby Spice," Jordan shot back.

"At least he was there," Perry remarked. "Where was Barbie? Checking her new mini-corvette with Ken?"

Jordan didn’t respond to that, but did resort to kicking him under the table. She listened to the satisfied yelp when Perry spilled his coffee on his chest, and ignored the sharp jab to her heart that Elliot hadn’t been there at all.

"Children," Carla said lightly. "No arguing at the table."

Erin rolled her eyes and peered at Perry. "Where’s John?"

"How the hell should I know?" Perry snapped, and softened his tone when Jack jumped in his arms. It didn’t work, however, and Mary tickled him to keep him quiet.

"You two came in together last night," Erin replied and let the comment hang.

Before Perry could snap at her, the doors opened again and JD plunked down beside of Turk with a cup of coffee in his hands.

"Did you see the little servants in the kitchen?" he asked pointedly. "They’re like Oompa-Loompas."

"Dude! What’d I tell you about Oompa-Loompas?" Turk replied with a shaky voice.

"But they’re not creepy. And they make dynamite-coffee," JD responded, his face drifting off as he sipped his coffee.

Erin dropped a heavy book on the table. Everyone only glared at her, long-used to loud noises around the hospital.

"Nice try, but that doesn’t work around doctors," Elliot said matter-of-factly. "Well, except for Dr. Steinman, but he’s been like that ever since Doug shocked him. He just didn’t have the resistance to it like Carla." She looked owlishly at Carla. "Did you ever have Electric-Shock-Therapy?"

"Elliot!" Carla snapped.

Erin sat down wearily and nodded to Aiden quickly. Jeremy, Mary, Ian and Violet immediately put their hands over their ears.

Aiden fumbled in his pocket for a minute before turning up three dark red marble-like orbs. He backed away from the table a bit in his chair, which went unnoticed during the ensuing arguments.

A loud explosion made the table light in fire for brief moment, drawing several yelps and curses from the people around it.

Erin stood again and nodded her thanks to Aiden.

"Ooh, I want some of those," Carla immediately said.

"Now that I’ve got your attention," Erin went on. She pulled a long, rolled-up piece of parchment-like paper from the chair beside of her and spread it over the table. "We’ve much to discuss about this war."

JD looked at the singe marks beneath the paper and shivered. Something prickled in his mind over it, and he glanced at Aiden, and then Ian’s oddly dark skin.

Something about both made him feel queasy.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Author’s Notes: Yes, I know what a weird place it was to leave this chapter, but I’ve been meaning to get this out all week. I also know it was a bit disjointed here and there, but it was written over the course of several weeks. I can’t promise an ETA on how quickly Chapter 16 will be out; I’ve been working a lot more than usual lately (as opposed to not at all when I started this fic).

In any case, major-Review’s Corner Catch-up to do XD I will go ahead and apologize if I leave anyone out; there’s a ton of reviews to catch up on, and I usually just classify the reviews by chapter when I reply. As always, however, I really appreciate anyone taking the time to review at all. They mean so much, and they’re always so encouraging. So, if I miss you, I’m sorry; it’s my own fault for not keeping up with them like I should. I still love getting them, and I love knowing even more that people read it at all. Thanks so much to all of you wonderful readers! Without readers, a story’s not much good, is it?

xxElisexx

w00t, new icons!

Sat, 13 Oct 2007 06:39:59 GMT

Check out my userpics at some point..just uploaded a whole bunch of new ones.

Off to chat and work more. Byees!

-Elise

mebbe it's 'cause of a lotta things....

Mon, 01 Oct 2007 07:03:14 GMT

Yeah, I'm in a disillusioned mood tonight.

And maybe I'm just picky, or a bitch, or too embittered or too cynical....

But christ, are us JD/Cox scrubs-fans really reduced to being okay with uber-girly!JD and uber-manly!Cox to satisfy us? Is there no medium?

Christ, why couldn't I have gotten obessessed with a bigger fandom.... >< Oh yeah, I remember...'cause I'm a freaking coward XD

In any case, I've actually looked at some of the recent (past month or so) postings of Scrubsfics. Wow, did season 6 just...KILL spirits or what?

And the only other thing I can think of that is making me THIS embittered or crappy right now is that my grandmother died; I spent 20 hours in a car with my parents and younger sister, and then two hours on a plane so that I could be "back to work ASAP". My grandma....she's...dead. Just like my Aunt Dorothy. >< Two wonderfully strong women.

But yeah, good christ....am I the ONLY person who's just fuggin' sick of girly!JD and ubermacho!Cox?

>< I miss my Aunt Dorothy and Grandma Audra...

Guh >

Sun, 16 Sep 2007 06:06:20 GMT

Gah, between Fight Club, Goodfellas, and a fic I'm giving a quick overview to, I am suitably fucked up for the night.

Be back later.

God I'm a list-whore

Sat, 15 Sep 2007 21:18:53 GMT

I don't know where it came from, but yeah. I like making lists.

Okay, so I actually did get around to picking up my guitar/keyboard this afternoon after I posted earlier. I came to a distinct conclusion that I don't know how to play very many songs XD

Although I did sound out some more Harry Potter movie-music (I've already got most of the recognizable stuff; tonight's music was from the PoA movie...hearing it kinda made me wanna watch it; it's my favorite! Though OotP did have Bellatrix in it, whom I know sorta idolize in a really weird way XD

But anyway XD I've compiled a list of songs I want to learn by the end of the year >.> I've been playing piano for *counts* about twelve years now, and guitar for *counts again* five years XD Jeez, I didn't know I'd been doing guitar for that long; I really suck at it XD

But anyway, the following *shrugs*

Guitar

In The Sun-Joseph Arthur
Closer-Joshua Radin
Somebody Told Me-The Killers
Poetically Pathetic-Amber Pacific
Far Away-Nickelback
Better Than Me-Hinder
Scars-Papa Roach
My Heroine-Silverstein
Chasing Cars-Snow Patrol
Dive Right In, Page Avenue-Story of the Year
Dance with the Devil-Breaking Benjamin (I need to find more songs by them...)

and...

Piano

Army, The Luckiest (again, I forgot how to play it), Still-Ben Folds
Goodbye, My Lover-James Blunt
Untitled-Simple Plan
Exisitentialism on Prom Night-Straylight Run
And miscellaneous movie tunes that I have to listen through again on. I already snagged the closing credits to the first/second Pirates movie, but I'm still working on Davy Jones' locket theme. I managed to grab the piano duet/solo from Corpse Bride (needs work though) and also some of the lesser-popular music from the first Shrek movie...coincidentally, the composer who wrote the instrumental music for Shrek also did the music for Over The Hedge and Chronicals of Narnia XD

So that takes me...Corpse Bride (needing work), Davy Jones's locket...god, there was one other...meh, it must've just been stuff I wanted to download later...

Which I have to go back and redownload Scars by Papa Roach...god, that song's been like...my "Theme Music" for the past month >.> For some reason, the lyrics don't really depress me, though they should I guess XD

Well, off to download, and then I'm gonna make a hard copy of my LJ cut here so I can find the tabs and then rip the piano music from the net. I wouldn't find figuring out a piano version of some of the guitar songs and a guitar version of the piano songs XD

Crap, I forgot to stick Toccota and Fugue in D Minor and Invention No. 8 on there by Bach....I already know half of the former, but an ex from three years ago stole my bootleg music >.> (now that's what ya call ironic...) and the Invention No. 8 music was a friend's...meh, I can rip it from the net.

Okay, I think I'm done blathering on about music >.> Next cut!

Yes, dare I say it? I'm actually posting some to-date info about my stories! XD I'll probably be making notes about original works here too, peeps...but I'm doing fanfiction first 'cause that's what usually gets read ;)

Okay, so first up is the Split Conference series. I jumped headfirst into that one without really thinking about the repercussions of it later. I'm trying to get some research done on this particular mental situation that I've thrown Perry and JD into, but the search isn't being very fruitful. I'm guessing at a lot of things, and probably way overdoing the angst and misery as a result. I figure it's better to have them suffer longer than it is to have them up'an'at'em too soon.

Not to mention I'm considering rewriting the whole thing. >< I've been reading through it lately, and there are some parts that aren't plausible and other parts that are just sloppy. So, chances are, I'll be taking it down soon for editing, revamping, etc. If you want a copy, now's the time to either bookmark the pages and save them offline or just copy and paste it off your comp. I don't have very organized files on that story; I was writing it from 2 different comps.

Okay, next up...let's see...I wouldn't mind doing some more on Missed Chance, though I don't know if I will or not. I really like the concept, and- *stops with a lightbulb above her head* WOOT...plot rabbit...*writes it down* Anyway, I love the concept for "Missed Chance", the whole Cox/Janitor thing just to alleviate JD being a dick. The final problem though becomes when JD stops being a jerk and gets together with one of 'em, what happens to the one he doesn't choose? And hell, they might not even want anymore after that.

Okay, brings me to Heroine. God, I keep trying to write that one, but it just doesn't come out...I'm trying out some new music though, and that usually kickstarts at least a chapter of something...but it might be absolute rot.

Looking Glass. Okay, this one's got a half-done chapter; I know where it's going and and etc. Which is part of the problem; I've been writing the Libris story for over ten years, and I know exactly what happens every step of the way. I'm trying though; the chapter's halfway there, I just have to sit down and force it out >.>

I'm wanting to say that about covers it for current story-age. Ones that I've had plot ideas for follow now:

I'd read a story the other day...ah, Compromise by Ever1 (she updated!) and had a 4-way confrontation between Cox, JD, Elliot, and Jordan about their affairs. Elliot caught on first, it seemed...but either way, that changed the dynamic of Jordan finding out about JD/Cox entirely, and it gave me an idea for an old story-plot I used to love.

Trap your main characters in a room and see what happens between them. See, this is where Janitor comes in, because I can imagine that for one, he knows it'd torture the hell out of Scooter. Two, he would hope in some misguided fashion that Blonde Doctor would see what a mistake it is to be around jerks like them when she could have someone like Janitor. Three, I'd be willing to be that Janitor just doesn't like Angry Doc's Demonic Ex-Wife. And then Angry Doc...hell, Coxy could be the one who starts the whole thing by pissing Janitor off somehow :)

Either way, Janitor rules this story. My muse is kicking my brain right now to be strong until I can finish another story before work on this one XD

Let's see...ah, I'm still kicking around the "Fight Club" idea. That's where the plot-bunny came in earlier. JD's not exactly the poster-boy for violence...Coxy, of course, marinates himself in it. God, how funny would it be for JD to take on Kelso...or Turk to go head-to-head with Janitor...

Holy shnikees, that just gave me the weirdest idea, considering Fight Club's wrap-up as far as Cox and JD go...hmmm...interesting indeed.

But yeah. Still kicking around the Fight Club idea; will probably watch tonight. I have to go to work at 8:45 tomorrow, which isn't bad at all. God, school starts for most kids at 7:00 around here anyway.

In the original arena, I've only got 2 going at the moment, Lost Soldiers and Libris.

Libris is just the original version of Looking Glass, of course. I'm working on the first chapter currently; my editor-friend finally gave me back the last draft I sent him, and it looks like he bled all over it >.> Then again, I wanted an honest opinion, and he...*faintly* gave me one...

The other fic is Lost Soldiers, a sci-fi type gundam-style piece set into the future. The hold-up on that one is due to research into global politics. I'm attempting to construct a world war, and it's a hell of lot harder than it sounds XD

Libris's prologue is up if you want to see it: Click Me!

Some explanation is that the music stuff is mostly about a bunch of songs I want to learn by the end of the year, and writing stuff is just updates and notes for my stories.

And, my last happy note...it's getting a little cooler here! *dies of happiness* The low tonight is supposed to be FORTY-SEVEN F!!! That just makes me squee and feel warm and squooshy inside... :D

Oh, and this entry's up for everyone because I'm discussing writing stuff and not everyone who reads my stuff can get to my friends-locked pages, etc. Later!

Libris-Prologue

Thu, 13 Sep 2007 14:39:34 GMT

Okay, so I'd mentioned it, and here it is.

This is the original version of "My Looking Glass", which, while the plot dynamics are similar, the character set-ups are way different XD

Anyway, on with the fic!

Title: Libris
Rating: M for mature situations and violence
Author: Elise Davidson, (c) 1998-2007
Summary: Since the beginning of civilization, people have believed in other words and have long-since looked for the gateways to arrive. Now, lives will change forever when one of those gateways is finally found.
Author's Notes: Within story, though I will go ahead and let everyone know that it's being posted in its very original form with no slash. There's not much romance in the whole story in general, to be honest...but it's been a while since I've written it all the way through, so that might change in time.

Enjoy!

Libris

Author: Elise Davidson

Rating: M for mature situations and violence

Summary: Ancient balances will finally even out as the mirror legends become clear in the so-called real world.

Author’s Notes: I’ve got two (hopefully) that I’ll be posting tonight. For one, I’m hoping to post the prologue of Libris, but also the prologue of "Lost Soldiers".

I would like to go ahead and say that I’m posting the originals in all of their non-slashy glory (joke). The originals of both stories don’t have slash in them because I am attempting to put these books into the mainstream demand. I don’t like it much either, but in the book world, that sort of thing just doesn’t sell as well, and most editors/agents won’t take them.

As a result (with proper warnings and such), I hope you enjoy. I am making a claim here as well. Don’t take it or I will sue. I don’t have an agent, but I do have a lawyer (believe it or not ::shrugs:: ). If you want to archive somewhere, the rule still stands: PLEASE ASK.

Libris

Long ago in a story of old,

There is a book that smells of mold.

Gone are those stories of yesterday,

Here are the adults of today.

Prologue

The grass was dead here. The trees were too, and the air smelled as awful as the scenery looked. It was an awful, stale smell that didn’t leave the senses.

In fact, it tended to follow the clothes and burn the nose until no other scent could be remembered. It would sit deep in the lungs of a strong person, and would haunt a weaker person until they died.

The old man who walked those dried, dead lands was used to it. He had been around for far too long to have separated himself from that horrid smell of death.

Death, after all, was the smell that ran its torrid trail through his body.

Along the dried grass and stagnant air, there were corpses that were in numerous stages of decay. It only added to the desolation of the land, but the old man simply continued his arduous walk through the piles.

Where his eyes should have been, a dirty rag sat. His eyes had been removed long ago by their enemy and he had learned since to hone his magical skills.

One hand grasping his gnarled walking stick and the other spread painfully, the old man continued. He was looking for something, something he never hoped to find.

However, the old man found it.

With a guttural cry that resounded from his belly, the old man collapsed. His free hand slapped the metal breastplate of a headless corpse that had been burned and mutilated beyond recognition.

The wind suddenly picked up, though it still carried no scent of life. The old man turned at the hard, lifeless air that he felt against his neck. Someone had arrived, and he knew who it was.

The woman who was behind him looked coldly down where the old man’s hand still lay upon the breastplate of the fallen, decapitated soldier.

"It is he?"

The old man nodded, for he did not trust his voice to speak.

"With similar injuries as well?"

This time, the man did utter a sound. "Yes, Captain."

The woman nodded again as another brush of air whipped her brown hair from her blazingly angry eyes. They were a painful shade of blue then.

Normally, however, they were brown.

The captain nodded curtly. "Your job here is done, old man."

The old man looked up at her. "What is your intention from here, Captain?"

The woman turned from him for a moment, glaring hard at the horizon as she debated her answer for a time. It was only when the old man cleared his throat that she responded finally in a hard tone of voice that belied nothing of what she actually felt.

"We will begin the search for the others in the next world. They were the last."

The old man shook then with a terrifying anger that made the female Captain wince. "This body is not yet cold, Captain!"

The woman turned sharply, hardly able to look at the decapitated corpse. "What would you have me do, Airan?"

Airan, the old man, sighed hard. "I would have you respect the dead in the old ways that our country has stood by since it was created."

The captain gave a hard breath and bowed her head. "We need our rulers. He was the last, Airan, and you cannot tell me that there is a better option. If we should wait, than we risk far more than we can gamble." Her eyes looked at him then with more condescension than she felt. "You know this."

Airan looked down then as well. His hand had not yet left the breastplate of the fallen, headless ruler. His fingers tensed slightly over the cold metal, feeling the kinks and dings from where the headless man had obviously taken quite a beating.

"At least wait until the eve of tomorrow. It is still our custom."

The captain did nod to do that. "I will see to it, Airan. Thank you."

Airan nodded and backed away from the corpse with no head. "You will help me lift him, Captain Hale?"

Hale nodded. Though her eyes were still cold, her stance was a bit shaky. By this time, she had seen far too many rulers die for their country.

With another sigh, Hale lifted her hand. Her fingers twirled artistically in the air, as if she were playing an imaginary keyboard, and a gush of wind blew forward, tossing loose strands of her hair again.

Airan stood solid as the headless corpse lifted above the bed of sheer air. Giving a nod of affirmation to Hale that he knew she was keeping the upward pressure beneath the corpse, Airan lifted his hands above the body to keep pressure down.

Together, they made their way back.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX