Disclaimer: Scrubs does not belong to me.

"One thing," Perry said, and then muttered, "out of possibly many."

JD brightened. "Yes?"

The curly haired intern huffed. "Are you going to send me to the psych ward?"

The muse frowned. "Do we have a patient there?"

"No, for Zeus' sake," Perry said with a roll of his eyes. "I'm not the only one who sees you, am I? Because the last thing I want is for someone to see me talking to a coffee maker."

"Oh, don't worry about it," JD said with a wave of his hand. "I didn't get into the getup for nothing." He frowned, lips pursed. "Actually, I probably still would have…"

Perry whistled to get his attention, snapping his fingers in front of his eyes. "Hey, Juno," he snapped.

"You don't have to worry about anything! Well, except for maybe your patients, and your paperwork, and finding me a place to sleep…"

"What?" he growled. "You mean Papa Zeus isn't gonna beam you back up if you're here past your curfew?"

"I'm a few hundred years old," JD said petulantly. "He hasn't had to do that since I was like fourteen."

"Cute little anecdote," he muttered with a roll of his eyes. "Now can ya tell me how I can fix Billy so we don't waste anymore time?"

"Now Perry, you know your virtues, don't you?" the muse admonished. "Patience is once of them. And besides, muses don't tell you answers. They're kind of like… life coaches. You know, they bug you and poke you and prod you--"

"I swear to the God I don't believe in that if you even try to bug, poke, or prod me, I'm gonna have you return to daddy looking like the bug I smacked into the wall."

JD pouted. "I know who I'm dealing with."

Perry huffed, wiping his face with his hands. He peered at the muse from between his fingers. "So you say you've been with me through med school?" he asked weakly.

"Yup!" he said cheerfully, grinning.

He put his hands down. "You don't think I can file a restraining order against you, do you?"

JD opened his mouth to reply, but Perry's beeper went off. The curly haired intern swore and leapt up from his seat, JD at his coattails as he bounded towards Billy's room.

"He has a fever of 103.1, Doc," the nurse inside the room told him.

"Get him some ice water and naproxen," Perry said, sitting down beside a trembling Billy. "Hey, buddy," he said softly, wiping his dampened hair back.

"C-Cold," Billy whimpered, wincing.

"I know," Perry replied. "It's the infection. Don't worry, the naproxen will bring it down. You're okay with swallowing pills, right?"

"It hurts," the boy sobbed. "Where's Daddy?"

"I'm sorry, Billy, but your daddy had to leave. Visiting hours are over. But me and the nurses promise to take care of you while he isn't here, okay?"

"Perry…" JD murmured, touching his shoulder.

The curly haired intern glanced at him. JD nodded his head at Billy, pointing to something. He followed his finger to the red splotches on the underside of the boy's small bicep. "Hey, Billy," he murmured. JD plucked a pair of latex gloves from the drawer beside the bed, handing them to Perry. He put them on, gently palpating the red skin. It was hot to the touch. "Are these new? Do they hurt?"

Billy turned his head to see, frowning. "I don't know. But they don't hurt."

"I'm gonna check for more, okay? Can you roll over onto your stomach for a minute?"

Billy nodded, carefully doing so. JD untangled the IV line when it got snagged on the bed rails.

"Look at this, JD," Perry whispered, tracing his gloved fingers along the kid's red back. "It's everywhere." He glanced at the back of the boy's head. "You're sure it doesn't hurt?"

Billy shook his head. "It doesn't," he croaked, his voice muffled by the pillow.

"Turn over for me." The boy did. Perry shook his head. "That's odd. The red splotches appear only where he's lying down."

"Bed sores?" JD contributed.

Perry shook his head. "Looks nothing like them." He looked at JD curiously. "How much medical knowledge do you know, anyway?"

"About as much as you?" the muse said with a shrug.

The nurse returned to the room with iced water and two tablets of naproxen.

"No!" Billy wailed, shaking.

"Billy, it's okay," Perry said, patting his hand. "The medicine will keep your fever down. You'll feel a little bit better."

Billy shook his head, covering his face with his hands.

"Come on, Billy," the curly haired intern pleaded. "If you don't, we're both gonna be breaking the promises we made to your mom and dad. Promises are really important things to keep."

The boy lowered his hands from his tear-streaked face. "But it hurts, Doctor Cox," he whimpered.

"I know it does. But it'll get better soon." He signaled for the nurse to give him the cup of water. "Here. Sip some water. You don't even have to swallow it yet. Just swish it around some until your mouth feels a little numb."

"Can you stay here?" Billy whispered, taking the offered cup.

He nodded. "I'll stay here." He patted Billy's arm gently. "Can I take a look at your mouth after? I'll be real careful."

"Okay," the boy sighed, sinking into his pillow.

"I'll leave the tablets over here, okay, Doc?" the nurse said, placing the plastic cup with the tablets on the overbed table.

"Yes, thank you."

Billy turned his head to watch her leave before his eyes settled on JD. "Who's that?" he asked, pointing.

JD grinned, sitting at the foot of Billy's bed. "Hi, Billy. I'm JD, Doctor Cox's friend."

"Are you a doctor, too?" the boy asked curiously.

"Yup," the muse replied with a nod. "We're both going to take care of you!"

Billy glanced at Doctor Cox before frowning. "Where's your ear thingy?" he asked.

JD frowned before he saw Perry smirk a little, touching his own stethoscope. "Oh! I left my ear thingy in my locker by accident."

"Come on, Billy," Perry coaxed. "Drink some water first, okay?"

Billy nodded. "Okay."

Perry and JD stayed long after Billy had taken his medication. Billy finally let Perry look inside his mouth, and the two men winced, feeling sorry for the kid. There were blisters all over his tongue, the insides of his cheeks, soft palate, the inside of his lips, and there was one even on his uvula.

"We should probably ask Billy's parents if we could do a biopsy," JD suggested.

Perry nodded. "Yeah, that'd be good."

Billy was feeling a little better after thirty minutes, so he agreed to let Perry help him clean his mouth and brush his teeth.

"I'm gonna prescribe you a magic mouthwash, okay, Billy?" Perry told him.

The boy frowned. "What's that?"

"Has your mom ever had a cocktail?" Perry asked jokingly. JD gave him a light smack on the arm. "Anyway, it's a mix of medicines that will help your mouth feel better. It will numb the pain."

Billy made a face. "Will it taste bad?"

"No, actually," the curly haired intern replied. "It'll taste a little bit like mint."

"Like a Peppermint Pattie?" Billy asked hopefully.

Perry grinned. "Yeah! Exactly like that."

The young boy yawned. "Thank you, Doctor Cox…"

The intern ruffled his hair. "No problem, kid. Get some sleep." Once he and JD were out of the room, he sighed. "I guess we're adding on another symptom."

"Keep looking through that encyclopedia you had before," JD said. "It sounds like autoimmune to me."

Perry nodded. "I'm gonna catch some sleep first," he muttered.

"No problem!" JD said cheerfully. "I'll look through it, then."

The curly haired intern wearily gave JD a pat on the back before he headed off towards the on-call room. "Thanks."

JD grinned. Once he was alone, he frowned. "Now, where was that lounge…?"

TBC...