A/N: An extra long chapter for you guys, I had to keep writing until I could end it the way I wanted to! Mixed POV. You should be able to tell who's who. Enjoy! Oh, and trying not to sound like one of those whiny review-hungry authors, I need more reviews! And, I have failed miserably already... (oh well, go for broke) 1 review for 2 chapters isn't enough. I know you're out there reading my story, my account tells me you are! I won't 'ask' for reviews in return for new chapters, but please guys, I would like more support!

Chapter 3

Perry entered the store quietly and went into an empty aisle to think. Right now he would let Barbie deal with the mechanic if he even bothered to show up.

'...she says she doesn't want her son to grow up to be like you: an angry, sarcastic, borderline alcoholic!'

Of course, Perry had been slightly shocked at how defiantly she had stood up to him; usually an argument between them would culminate in her getting all teary eyed and running off to find a closet to cry in.

No, it had been the last sentence she had angrily yelled at him that had caught him off guard. Did his ex-wife confide in Elliot, (and possibly Carla) about how she was feeling? Perry closed his eyes and sighed. Jordan certainly wasn't talking to him about it.

However, he didn't need to hear it from Jordan to believe it was true. Their relationship was falling apart and Jack was the last bond holding them together. He wanted to love Jordan, he really did; life would be so much simpler that way. Unfortunately, you can't feel anything your heart doesn't want to feel, and Perry was subject to that.

Maybe, he thought, maybe his family would be better off if he wasn't around them all the time, living in the same home. There wasn't a chance in hell that he would give full custody of Jack to Jordan, but he felt that she at least deserved to be with someone else who loved her back and so Jack might have a better role model in life.

That would, logically, leave him all alone in his apartment. Again. Unless of course, he managed to find someone who hated themselves enough to love him. However, he was attracted to strong women with confidence and attitude, and having self-esteem low enough to actually like him would contradict those attributes.

Maybe I was meant to die alone, a miserable old geezer who nobody likes. Perry thought dejectedly. Looking at himself he thought: Maybe I've already become one.

Coming out of his rather morose thoughts, Perry looked at his watch. Quarter past eight. It had been about half an hour since he had called the mechanic. There might be a chance he had actually turned up by now.

Sure enough, when Perry looked out the window, he saw Elliot talking to a stout little man in overalls who was allegedly the mechanic. He deemed it safe enough to go outside and join them since there would be no confrontations between him and Barbie so long as the mechanic was there.

He strode out of the store and stopped in front of the pair who stood by Elliot's car. Elliot averted his gaze, while the mechanic gave Perry a hearty smile that sickened him slightly.

'Ah, you must be Mr Cox, I assume?' the mechanic said expectantly. Perry blinked at the unusual title, but nodded nonetheless.

'Yes well, this lovely young lady right here,' he winked at Elliot. Barbie blushed. Perry just rolled his eyes. 'has just been explaining the problems with each of your cars. If the problems are what you say they are, and that both of you have a simple case of a flat battery, I should be able to get both of your cars running in no time!'

He grinned at the pair, and promptly strode off to get his equipment from his van parked nearby, leaving Perry and Elliot alone together.

Crap. Think fast, Perry. Perry looked down at a rather despondent looking Elliot.

Elliot meanwhile was looking anywhere but at Perry, obviously still too ashamed to even look at him after their last conversation. Perry knew she was feeling guilty about it and any anger he felt towards her vanished. She was obviously sorry for what she had said earlier. However, he was not one to listen to awkward apologies, so to avoid that, he decided to dive in and start the conversation.

'Barbie.' Perry said softly, trying not to startle her. Elliot glanced up nervously, looking like a little girl who had just been told off. Her confidence and 'backboneness' from earlier had gone and he felt like he was talking to the old, insecure Barbie that she was when he first met her as an intern. Luckily, she didn't interrupt him.

'I know we're not exactly best pals with each other, in fact, we'll probably never be that close, due to my unfortunate intolerance of annoying, neurotic squeaky people.'

No Perry, you're meant to be reassuring her that it's no big deal about what she said, not putting her down again. I'm so used to criticising her that it's automatically programmed into my speech every time I talk to her. Damn it! Say something...nice.

Dr Cox cleared his throat and tried again.

'Elliot.' The use of her given name got her attention.

'What I'm trying to say is, don't take it so hard on yourself when you finally get one on me right? Listen carefully, because I will not repeat this: I know I'm not perfect, I do in fact have faults, and as a result of that I am allowed to be criticized occasionally. There is no need to apologize, I hate those anyway. Besides, I was actually starting to have more respect for this new, 'backbone' Barbie that seems to be appearing more often these days. Do you want to bring her back? I need to be able to actually speak with you for work purposes, you realize.'

Realising that the speech that Dr Cox had just made wasn't actually a rant at her, Elliot relaxed a little and looked up into Perry's eyes and saw that he was being sincere.

'I-I know that Dr Cox, but I shouldn't have made that comment so personal. What happens in your private life is none of my business and I should respect that instead of using it against you. I'm really so-

'Ah! Barbie! Did you na-hawt listen to any of the part where I said I hate apologies? Surely you must have learnt that by now anyway. They're a sign of weakness.' His tone was light and almost teasing. Elliot gave a small smile.

'Right, guys!' the mechanic had returned with what seemed to be a skip in his step, which Perry frowned at. How in God's name can a mechanic be so happy with the job they have?

'I've got my equipment ready!' he nodded to his toolbox in his hand and a bunch of wires over his shoulder. 'Which car do you want me to work on first then?'

Perry was about to say jokingly 'ladies first', but Elliot beat him to it.

'Well, seeing as it was Dr Cox who called you out, it would seem logical that you attended to his car first, he just thought it was sensible if we use the same mechanic so we wouldn't have to call out two.' Elliot looked at Dr Cox for approval; she was obviously still trying to make up for what she had said earlier.

'Fair enough.' Perry said gruffly, nodding at the mechanic as an indication for him to get started.

Perry glared at the mechanic as he watched him lift up the bonnet of his car. Turning around, he could see Elliot smiling amusedly at him.

'What?'

'What do you have against all mechanics?' Elliot retorted. 'He's actually a nice guy you know, you'd see that if you took off your 'I hate anyone who seems happier than me' goggles.'

And Backbone Barbie was back, thank God.

'Maybe so, but that guy-'

'His name is Joey.'

'Whatever. But I bet he's only being nice to you because quite honestly, he probably wouldn't mind bedding you.'

'Dr Cox, not every guy who is nice to me wants to bed me! Stop being so paranoid! Besides since when did you care who I sleep with? It's none of your business anyway.'

'Well, don't mistake this for interest, God help ya if you do, but you're single, aren't you? I heard you finally managed to get Clara off your back.'

'Yeah, he's happy with Kim now, he spends most of his free time looking after Sam. Why do you ask?'

'Well, who knows how desperate you might be? You're always complaining about how you're the only one who hasn't had a baby yet. If 'Joey' over there asked you on a date, would you take it?'

'I might just in spite of you, but honestly? He's not my type. I prefer men who are...taller.'

'So now you're being discriminating of short people? Barbie, that's just not fair. How can you be picky after all these years?'

'Dr Cox! You're the one who seems to have a large chip on your shoulder when it comes to mechanics! Earlier you were describing just how useless they are!'

'Yes, but I don't want to sleep with a mechanic do I?

'Oh for god's sake this is getting ridiculous! I'm not attracted to every man I meet! I just don't fancy him!'

As they were arguing, their voices steadily got louder and louder and they were attracting a few odd stares from passersby. Joey the mechanic, who was immersed in working on Dr Cox's car, finally noticed the verbal war between the two, and considering it was quite distracting to him and all those in the surrounding area, he thought it best that the owners of the cars he was fixing should be prevented from killing each other in the meantime.

'-so what you're saying is that I should just jump every guy I meet because it's 'better than nothing? Dr Cox what do you take me for, a-'

Joey cleared his throat.

'What seems to be the problem with you two then huh? I gotta say that you've been attracting quite a few strange looks from around here.'

Elliot froze mid-sentence, and much to Perry's amusement, slowly turned bright red in embarrassment.

Seeing as Barbie seemed completely incapable of talking right now, he thought it was only fair to do the talking for her.

'Oh, nothing there, Joey old pal. We were just discussing how Blondie here is becoming a little rusty in the dating department. Isn't that right, Little Miss Lonely?' Elliot's eyes widened in disbelief at what Perry had just said and looked like she would rather not be there at all.

Joey looked a little taken aback but nevertheless he replied.

'Now, that is a shame. A pretty girl like you ma'am deserves someone good enough to take care of ya. I best be getting back to fixing your car sir.' He smiled at them before scurrying back to tend to Perry's car. Both Elliot and Perry had managed to catch a glint reflecting off what looked suspiciously like a ring on his finger as he had walked past them.

'See that? He's married, probably with kids. Are you going to tell me that I should steal him from his wife?'

'Well-'

'Dr Cox, I'm not arguing with you again. It's childish and very repetitive. Seeing as it's the only thing we are capable of doing when we are talking to each other, I think it's best if I don't talk to you until Joey has finished fixing our cars.'

She walked away from him before he could reply, and sat down on a nearby bench, looking deep in thought.

Perry thought it was best to leave her alone.

-o-

Why did Dr Cox have to be such an...ass? Frick, he knows how to get to me though. I don't think I've been so embarrassed since that time when-

Elliot, think positive. You just have to forget those moments in your life.

She glanced at her watch. 8:45. I wonder how to the hospital is doing without us...

She thought to call Carla just to check on things. Getting her phone out, she pressed speed dial and waited for her to pick up.

'Hello?'

'Hey Carla, how's things at the hospital?'

'A bit quieter without you and Dr Cox, actually. No one's died today yet, but looking at Dr Kelso doing rounds right now, we might end up having to deal with a few interns in shock. JD I think is trying to reassure them that he's just an evil old man who hates everybody.'

'Sounds normal. Don't worry; we'll both be there soon as long as we don't kill each other.'

'Elliot, honey?'

'Well, you know how Dr Cox and I don't always see eye to eye?'

'Don't tell me you've been arguing again.'

'Sort of, but you know what he's like. Just the usual condescending rants about how useless we all are compared to him. We've decided-well, I have actually- that it's best that we don't talk to each other until both our cars are fixed.

'Oh, Elliot. Just don't let him press your buttons okay? You're stronger than you were before; you have to keep telling yourself that.'

'I know Carla. See you later.' Elliot hung up.

Stretching her legs out, Elliot decided to try and work out what had just happened in the last hour. Her car had broken down, so had Dr Cox's. He had called out a mechanic. They had inevitably argued on and off, with a hint of amiability towards each other after she went a bit too far, and to be honest she was getting sick of it. It would be so much easier if they could actually get along most of the time. Hell, she did respect Dr Cox, but why did he have to make it so hard for her to actually like him? He was always so stubbornly behind that sarcastic barrier of his for anyone to get to know him as anything else. She and the rest of the hospital had seen his vulnerable side, but they only got to very, very rarely. And that wasn't enough. He needed to open up more, let people in.

'Barbie!' the man plaguing her thoughts broke through her reverie. He didn't sound too happy, either.

'The mechanic wants to speak to the both of us, apparently. As usual there are 'complications'. He turned and walked back to Joey, not caring to see if Elliot was following him.

Elliot sighed, and silently followed Dr Cox to where the stout little man stood.

'Okay guys, I have some good news and some bad news. The good news is that Mr Cox's car here just had a simple case of a flat battery, so I've started charging it up and it's all good to go in about a couple of hours I would say.'

Frick, why am I always the one that gets the bad news?

'The bad news is that Miss Reid's car has something a little more serious. See, the engine has come loose somehow and as a result, an important component is missing which probably fell out while you were driving along. I'll have to take your car to the garage so I can replace that piece and fix your engine back into place. I gotta say, ma'am, you're mighty lucky that your engine didn't fall right through as you were driving! Oh, and that will be 30 bucks, Mr Cox. ' Dr Cox grudgingly handed over the money.

How the frick am I going to get to work? Dr Cox would never willingly give me a ride there. Talk about the most awkward and tense car journey in the world...

'Oh, and seeing as you two seem to work with each other, I'm sure you wouldn't mind sharing a lift with Miss Reid here once your battery is charged up!' He looked at Dr Cox to see if he would agree.

'Yeah, sure. Sounds 'sensible'.' His expressionless face gave away nothing.

Oh, frick.

He gave them both a grin, his good mood unwavering as he went back to his van, pulling out his phone to organise the transportation of Elliot's car. Perry didn't say anything to her, opting instead to go sit on the green area near the store.

Elliot began to see Dr Cox's hatred of mechanics. Double frick.