Gimme Shelter

Chapter 7: Cry Love

Storyshark2005

'the trust of a woman, in his hand

but he was a little boy, and not a man

you loved him stronger, than he could feel

yeah he was wrapped up in himself

like an orange peel'

John Hiatt

* * *

JD glanced around the room, to the beer, the empty wine glass, the candles (which he understandably misinterpreted).

JD's blue eyes widened. He looked from Elliot to Dr. Cox, and his mouth dropped open.

Elliot cringed.

"Oh…my….God…"

"JD….wait! It's not what you think. I-"

Suddenly, the lights flickered on. A fan in the next room hummed back to life.

Elliot sighed. Thank God…

"Well, there you go. The power's back on- Dr. Cox and I were just…"

Perry cocked his head and gave her a look.

"….were just…uh, talking. About a-a…case. Yeah, it was mine but I was having him, uh, you know double check a few things on it. You know how metabolic disorders aren't really my thing."

His eyebrows were rising farther and farther up his forehead.

Elliot shoved her hands in her jeans.

"So, I think that's about it…" She turned to look at Perry.

He gave a snort of disgust and elbowed past her, ignoring JD altogether. He paused in front of the doorway. His voice cracked dryly,

"Yeah, Barbie, that's about it."

He grabbed his coat roughly and didn't look back as the door slammed shut behind him.

Elliot groaned and buried her face in her hands as she collapsed back down on the couch.

JD looked from the door back to Elliot.

"What the hell was that all about? And why are you going to Cox for metabolic diseases? You know he isn't great with those. Remember that time with Dr. Casey…hey, are you OK?"

Elliot mumbled into her hands.

"I'm fine, JD. Just…" – she looked up at him - "what do you need?"

He dropped onto the seat next to her and picked up the beer that was still condensing on the coaster. Elliot watched it sadly as she listened to JD's voice.

"I just….I needed to talk to you. I had kind of a weird day."

Elliot looked up and smiled.

"Oh, JD, I don't know if your day could have possibly been weirder than mine…but tell me about it." She leaned sideways against his shoulder as he spoke, feeling the low vibration of his voice hum against her cheek and reverberate in her chest.

"Well, I got out of the hospital around 7. And I…uh…" JD hesitated. He suddenly found himself reluctant to tell Elliot what had happened with Jordan. Just a few minutes ago he had been so eager to get it off his chest, relieve himself of the burden of that afternoon's memories. He shared everythingwith Elliot. Always. And yet…

He couldn't do it.

Elliot looked back up at JD, puzzled, waiting for him to continue.

"What's wrong, JD?"

He looked down into her pale, soft blue eyes. Warm memories of Elliot laughing, working, kissing him, soft, light, ethereal, flicked through his head, suddenly interrupted by the sharp, intrusive and cold picture of Jordan standing in the rain, angry but undeniably beautiful. Defiant. He saw her dark eyes framed by almost black hair. Black coat. Black heels.

He slammed a wall down in his brain, shutting out all thoughts and images of her. He only knew they were wrong, and he had to stop them somehow.

Well, there was one way.

"JD?"

So he decided to kiss her.

He leaned forward and just went for it, full on the mouth. C'mon, JD, this is your dream girl! You're meant to be together. Kiss her! You both want it. Oh, yes sir, no one can resist the John Dorian 'lean in and kiss them senseless' move. Yes, JD, you've still got it-

His internal monologue was still running when he realized Elliot was pulling away and shoving him across the couch.

"JD, WHAT THE HELL!?" she screeched.

"Uh…" Oops. Ok, so maybe that didn't work as well as I'd hoped. Quick! Kiss her again so she'll forget about what just happened…

JD leaned in for another one.

"JD! GOD…mmph, NO! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Elliot pushed him back once again and stood, almost tripping over the coffee table as she backed away from the couch.

JD stood, grasping at straws.

"Elliot, please, I'm sorry. But I had to do it. I need you. You're THE one, and I can't let you go again. I was stupid before, and I can't just be sex buddies or friends anymore. You are perfect and beautiful, and you're my dream girl. I can't…let you go."

Elliot's eyes widened.

"JD, you've got to be kidding me."

He stepped closer to her and put his hands on her shoulders.

"Elliot, I love you. And I want us to be together. Please, can't we try this again?"

She shook her head and gently pulled his hands down.

"JD, stop. No."

"Elliot, just listen to me. I love-"

"NO, JD. You don't love me. You don't. You can't."

"Yes, I can. And I do."

"No, you don't. And, no, you can't."

"Elliot-"

"STOP, JD. Just, just stop it. I don't feel that way about you. You're my best friend, and maybe at one time I did. But we screwed up, and it just didn't work out. We aren't meant to be together. We never were."

"But we can try again, Elliot. I know what I want this time."

"No you don't, JD! That's just it! You have this beautiful, impossible fantasy of us, and it's perfect and wonderful….but that's all it is, JD. One of your fantasies. It's a dream. And you need to wake up."

JD felt a sharp pain cut through his chest. He felt his heart breaking.

His throat shut and he realized he couldn't speak. Elliot's eyes were searching his, waiting for a response.

"I'm so sorry, JD. God…I'm just….not in love with you anymore. JD, please say something. Anything?"

He looked at her, half devastated, half curious at the terrible sensations rushing through his body. Pain, disbelief, and an odd desire to burst out laughing. He blinked a few times, trying somehow to clear the room of the fog that was creeping in on the edge of his vision. He could see Elliot's mouth moving now, but he couldn't hear anything.

Numbly, he picked up his bag and started for the door, sliding past Elliot, who was still staring at him.

He vaguely remembered shutting the door on Elliot, floating down some flights of stairs, and then standing once again in the rain.

But this time it was completely dark outside.

* * *

Perry stared down into the familiar amber depths of his glass of scotch. Maybe this time he would find what he was looking for One more drink….a little closer to the answer, perhaps?

A buzzing noise interrupted his têt-à-têt with his scotch. He pulled his cell from his back pocket.

New Message from Barbie.

He opened the message.

I'm sorry. I set JD straight about us. Please come over - we should talk.

He flipped the phone shut. So she told Newbie….that was a start, at least.

He downed the rest of his drink and threw some money on the counter. He barely even felt the burning liquid slide down his throat.

He had some serious thinking to do.

He popped the collar of his leather jacket up around his neck and shoved the old wooden door open, leaving the smoky bar for the cold of the night.

* * *

Jordan kicked her shoes off as she stepped into her dim apartment and collapsed on the couch, the only piece of furniture in the bare living room. It had been awhile since she last spent a night here. She watched the fading light through the floor-to-ceiling windows across the room. It wasn't much of a sight: just a light gray overcast sky turning to a darker shade of gray. Sometimes, though, the sunsets were really spectacular to see in the evenings. It was one of the reasons she had bought it in the first place.

She let her head slide down the back of the couch and the room turned itself upside down. The blood rushing to her brain gave her an oddly pleasant numbing sensation.

She knew she really should go pick up Jack, but even if she didn't, this wasn't the first time Jack would have spent the night at the sitter's house. Jessica was a lifesaver, and somehow didn't find it odd when Jordan or Perry called late asking her to watch him for the night.

Her eyes unfocused, and behind her eyes she started to see…blue. Something….blue. She relaxed her eyes even more and let her brain drift, fuzzy images floating and disappearing through her mind.

Eyes. Blue eyes.

That stupid kid and his ridiculously sad blue eyes. JD's wide blue eyes, wet black hair sticking up in damp spikes….

She had to stop this stupid daydreaming.

She vaguely wondered if Carlos still lived across the hall with his mother….

No, she really didn't feel like seducing him, she realized. Now that was very odd. What the hell was wrong with her?

She gave a tremendous sigh and rolled off the couch. Time to go pick up her son.

* * *

JD stumbled in a haze through the dark streets, vaguely aware he was headed for the bar a few blocks down from the hospital. Maybe a few appletinis will make me feel better. Oh, sweet appletinis, you're always happy to see me, aren't you?

He shifted his eyes down as he approached a dark figure walking the opposite way down the sidewalk. The figure stopped a few feet away, and JD kept walking, giving the man some space. What a weirdo…

"Newbie?"

JD started and whipped around, almost tripping over his feet. Dr. Cox was revealed in the shadowy light, looking as surprised to see JD as he was to see Cox.

"Dr. Cox?! What are you doing out here?" He blinked, forcing himself to clear his mind and focus on the odd situation before him.

"I was just heading back over to Barbie's. She texted me that you guys, uh, had a talk."

JD shoved his hands in his pockets.

"Yeah, uh, we did. Why….why did she tell you? In fact," JD stepped towards Cox, accusingly. "I don't think you were talking about metabolics, were you? What the hell is going on with you two?"

"Wait, hold on. I thought you said she told you?"

"We talked about us,which is really none of your business. What do you think we talked about?"

Dr. Cox shifted uncomfortably. "Well, apparently there's just been a whole-oHOLE- lot of confusion and I'm not at liberty to say exactly….you should talk to you gal pal-"

"No, Dr. Cox. I want to hear it right now, because I'm still a little confused. One minute you're at her apartment late at night, which is just WEIRD in the first place, not to mention you using some stupid excuse about studying metabolic diseases, which is not even your area of expertise anyway. Then, Elliot just out and tells me that it's never gonna happen with me and her, and NOW you're on your way to see her. You're going to give me an explanation NOW. I'm not waiting to hear it from Elliot."

The older doctor groaned and ran a hand through his hair.

"Look, Newbie, to tell you the truth, I don't know exactly what's going on either. I mean, I do but it's not just straightforward. It's….well, it's weird."

JD crossed his arms. A cold breeze whipped through his dark hair, and he hugged himself tighter.

"Go on."

"JD…" he paused, trying to find the right words. JD straightened with the use of his real name. This isn't good…

"JD, a few months ago, I got pretty drunk. And, uh, Barbie and I, we…well, she was drunk, too. And, uh…." He let out a low whistle. "Boy, this is, well you're not going to believe-"

JD's eyes were wide, disbelieving. You've GOT to be kidding me…holy mother of make believe…

"UH, well, you get the idea."

"Oh………..….my…………………..GOD! HOLY…….No. Just……no. That can't….she wouldn't…..YOU…and both of you…" He let out an agonized cry and clamped his hands over his ears, dropping to his knees. Dr. Cox awkwardly looked around.

"Look, Newbie, I know you're taking this kind of hard, but-"

JD's ears filled with white noise as he watched his mentor's mouth move. He couldn't hear, and he certainly couldn't think. He remembered standing up, still glaring, reaching back with his fist, and feeling it solidly connect with something hard.

He also remembered the cracking of bone in his right hand.

"GGAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH! OOHHHH FFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUoh oh oh oh….OOOWWWWWWWW!!!!!" JD clutched his fist and hopped around, yelping and screaming. His fist was on fire, shooting white hot pains jolting up his arm with every heartbeat.

Dr. Cox was holding his head back, trying to control his now bleeding and bruised nose. "OOhhhh…..fuck. Newbie, goddammit….." He stumbled backwards a bit, his head still spinning from the blow. "Oh, you will soh-OH pay for this, Newbie, I swear to GOD."

JD's good hand squeezed tighter around his other wrist in a futile attempt to cut off the pain from the rest of his arm.

"Oh, shut up."

* * *

Jordan strode deliberately up the nurse's station where Janice, another nurse, was flipping through a chart. She looked up as Jordan reached the counter.

"Well, where the hell is he?"

Janice smirked and motioned her to follow.

"Oh, they're both getting patched up by Dr. Mickhead." She walked across the room and pulled back a curtained off partition to reveal Cox and JD sitting on identical beds. Mickhead was prodding Perry's face while JD was giving him the death glare, still clutching his own now-bandaged hand.

"Mickhead, I would swear on my father's grave that if you poke my nose one more time, I'm going to put you in a serious world of hurt. Unfortunately, I didn't bother going to the funeral and I don't know exactly where he's buried. So you'll have to take my word for it."

Mickhead stepped back, annoyed and picked up his chart, scratching notes.

"Perry, you're a doctor, so you know that I'm ordering an x-ray on that nose. I can't tell if the displacement has damaged any facial bones; the kid may very well have fractured you ethmoid bone."

JD grinned. Mickhead shut his chart and stuck his pen back in his pocket. He strode off, muttering under his breath.

Perry grabbed more gauze and laid gingerly back on the bed, shutting his eyes and held it over his nose, letting out an exhausted groan.

Jordan set her purse down and approached his bed.

"DJ really did a number on you, didn't he, Per?"

Perry cracked open one eye.

"Who opened the Gates of Oblivion and let you in? Don't you have some souls to be stealing?"

She grinned evilly.

"Just yours, Perry."

He growled and shut his eyes. Jordan played with his curls absently, and glanced up to see JD staring at her. Not glaring. There was no hostility in his wide blue eyes. Just….intensity. And something else she couldn't quite place.

She cleared her throat and looked back down at a very exhausted Perry.

His breathing lengthened out, and he muttered something quietly. She leaned down to hear.

"Perry? I can't understand you. You'll have to speak clearer…"

His eyes still closed, she made out between sleepy breaths.

"Jordan….hmmm, I want to…..be…..in his….life. Jack's……father….I want…..to be there…."

She leaned back. Oh God, I'm going to have to tell him sooner or later… She looked up to once again meet JD's intense gaze. He didn't blink as he said in a raw voice,

"You should tell him."

She bit her lip, and looked back down at Perry, who was now almost completely asleep.

"I know."

She pulled her hand away from Perry's bed, and walked over to JD. His eyes stayed on her as she approached.

She sat on the end of Perry's bed, facing JD, who shifted to sit directly across from her.

"How's the hand?"

"Ok, I guess. It still hurts like a mother frakker."

"A what?"

"Oh, nothing. You'd have to watch Battlestar Galactica to get it…" JD tilted his head to the side and went off into fantasy land. After a few seconds, Jordan snapped her fingers, annoyed.

"DJ! Hey, snap out of it! Hey!"

He shook himself and muttered,

"…..cylon temptress…"

She rolled her eyes.

"Jordan," JD had gone back to a serious tone. "I think maybe we should talk about earlier. I'm kind of, uh, confused. About what….happened."

"DJ, I was using you. I was angry, upset, and generally when that happens I grab the nearest person or tree and try to have sex with it. Or him. Or her, I suppose, if it came down to it."

JD grimaced.

"Fine, if you want to pretend it never happened, I can deal with that."

Jordan smiled sunnily,

"Now you're really getting me, JD. Feelings in the bottle, screw the cap on tight."

Suddenly, a high pitched squeal sliced through their conversation.

"OH MY GOD, JD!" Elliot ran over, looking flustered. Perry remained on the bed, but clamped his hands over his ears.

"JANICECALLEDANDSAIDYOUTWOWEREHURTANDIWASSOWORRIEDSOICAMEASFASTASICOULD-"

"ELLIOT!"

"BARBIE!"

Perry and JD yelled out in unison. Elliot blew her bangs out of her face, annoyed.

"What!?"

Cox grabbed a pillow and smothered it over his face.

JD ignored him.

"Elliot, we're fine. Just stop talking so loud- we can't understand you. Janice called you and Jordan here because we can't drive home. I just fractured a couple of bones in my hand and Dr. Cox is getting an x-ray on his face in a few minutes."

Elliot looked from JD's hand to Perry. She walked over to the older doctor's bedside and snatched the pillow off his face.

She gasped and whipped angrily around to JD.

"OH MY GOD!! JD…did you PUNCH HIM IN THE FACE??!"

Jordan interrupted gleefully,

"Oh, he did, Stick, he did indeed. DJ finally proved that he's got some balls. He really gave Per-Per there a pretty good shiner."

Perry snatched the pillow back from Elliot but she grabbed it before he could hide his face again. He groaned and rolled over on his side, turning his back to all of them.

JD cleared his throat as Mickhead approached, flipping his chart open.

"Alright, Dr. Dorian, you can go home. Here's a prescription for some painkillers if you need them. Perry, you'll have to stay for a while longer and have that x-ray done."

Jordan crossed her arms.

"Mickface, how long is this going to take? My son is still at the babysitter's. I was going to pick him up when you guys called me down here, and it's getting really late."

Elliot interrupted.

"I can stay and take Dr. Cox home, if you'd like. That way you can just drop JD off now and go pick up Jack."

JD glared but Jordan seemed taken aback.

"Well, thanks, Blondie. That's very sweet of you. I think I may have to take you up on that." She turned to JD. "C'mon, David, let's go get your happy pills. Goliath was getting grumpy anyway."

Jordan shouldered her purse, took the elbow of JD's good arm, and they walked off toward the pharmacy, prescription in hand.

* * *

The wheel chair was a no-go. Perry would have none of that. There's an old saying that doctors make the worst patients. Take that 'worst' and multiply it by about a thousand times, and you would have some idea of the night the on-call radiologist was having.

Dr. Patrick Orth, a tall, attractive doctor despite approaching the age of fifty, had heard of Perry Cox up in internal medicine. He had actually met him on the few occasions when Cox had bothered to actually come down to radiology in person instead of sending a nurse or a tech. Orth had prided himself on never judging people before he really knew them, either on rumors or first impressions.

Dr. Orth did not know Perry Cox very well.

Dr. Orth was starting to hate Dr. Perry Cox.

He did, however, know Elliot Reid. She had come down with him, effectively playing the barrier between Cox's attitude and the radiology department. He had always liked Elliot Reid very much. She was a beautiful, brilliant, vibrant young doctor. Quite a breath of fresh air.

He did not quite understand, then, why she was using her night off to accompany her angry colleague for a facial x-ray. While studying the image of Cox's x-ray on his computer, Orth allowed his eyes to drift over the monitor and watch the two doctors bicker in lowered voices several feet away. He was sitting up on a chair by the x-ray machine. Elliot was standing with her arms crossed, looking annoyed as they murmured under their breaths. He noticed Reid's overly concerned eyes as she leaned over and studied Cox's nose. She frowned and gently turned his face to the side. He hissed in pain and leaned away from her hands.

He turned his attention back to the computer, pushing suspicious thoughts aside as he concentrated on his job.

* * *

His face hurt like hell.

And to top it off, Dr. Barbie was here to prattle on the entire ride home. Thank you, Jordan…

That overpaid computer tech Dr. Orth had sent him home after resetting his nose and handing him a prescription. Bottle in hand, he was now walking across the dark hospital parking lot toward Elliot Reid's car. It could've been a perfectly quiet trip back to his apartment. But no,Barbie had some ridiculous obligation to fill up perfectly good silence with her high pitched, incessantly naggy voice.

So now his head was starting to hurt, too.

He grimaced and pulled the bottle of pain killers from his back pocket and shook a few into his hand. He popped them back and swallowed them dry.

Elliot's squeaky speech stopped abruptly.

"Aren't you supposed to wait a few hours? You took like three of those twenty minutes ago."

Perry shook his head and looked at her with disbelief.

"OH, my GOSH, are you a doctor? Because, honest to god, I can't seem to find one around here. Tha-HANK goodness I found you, because I was just about to give up and take the whole bottle. The labels are just so darned hard to read that it's just easier to guess how many to take. Don't-cha think?"

She rolled her eyes and pulled her keys out as they approached the car.

"So, what reason did you give JD to actually punch you? I mean, I assume he knows we slept together now…" She unlocked the door and dropped down into the seat.

Cox paused while she unlocked the door before dropping into the passenger seat and continued the conversation.

"Well, no, actually. She was just angry because she found out that physically, well, she's really a man."

Elliot started the car and pulled out of the parking spot.

"Fine, act like a five year old. When you're ready to have a big-boy conversation, you just let me know."

Perry sulked for a few blocks, slouching down in his seat and staring out the window.

Elliot watched while he opened his mouth several times, about to shout something out before closing it again. Finally, he spoke.

"You said you set him straight about us! What the hell were you talking about if it wasn't us sleeping together? Because according to my broken nose, he didn't know about that until I told him."

Elliot's mouth formed a little 'O'.

"Ohh….I see. Well, it's funny," she laughed a little nervously. "When I said 'us', I was talking about me and JD. I kind of told him I wasn't ever going to go out with him again. I would say I broke up with him but we aren't really going out. I suppose I should've clarified…haha, because you thought when I said 'us' I meant you and me! I see why that would be confusing." She swallowed and continued. "It's just that when I text, I like to simplify things down to as few words as possible. Like when I told my mom that Barry and his boyfriend and I were going to Vegas so they could get married, I said 'L-O-L, Barry and I going to L-V, as in Vegas, to, like the number, a wedding.' Of course, she took that WAY wrong and completely FREAKED out-"

Elliot was cut off by the loud persistent banging of Perry's head on the passenger window.

"STOP THAT! You're going to hurt your face!"

He continued.

"Barbie…"

BANG

"…I'm trying…"

BANG

"…to hammer…"

BANG

"…your squeaky voice…"

BANG

"…out of my head…"

BANG

Elliot was getting panicky.

"STOP THAT!"

BANG

"I mean it. If you don't-"

BANG

"QUIT IT!" Elliot shrieked.

BANG

She jerked the wheel sharply to the right, pulling off to the curb. Thankfully, the street was almost deserted in the early hours of the morning. The radio read 4:45am.

Elliot rammed the shifter into park and turned square in her seat to face an angry looking Perry.

"WHAT THE HELL IS YOUR PROBLEM!?"

He blinked innocently.

"I'm sorry, isthere a problem?"

Elliot fumed, trying to find a biting comeback, but she could think of none. Instead, she just turned angrily back to the wheel and pulled back onto the road toward Perry's apartment.

There was no more banging of anyone's head on the windows.

Finally, after what seemed like hours of silence, they pulled up to his apartment building.

She shut off the engine.

More silence.

Finally,

"…..Thank you."

Pause.

"For what?"

"For not hitting him back. That was very sweet of you."

"You're welcome."

He paused for another moment, unsure of what else to say.

"Do you, uh….want to…?" he trailed off.

"Absolutely."

They would argue later about who kissed whom first, but, however it started, thirty seconds later Elliot was crawling over the seat into Perry's lap, lips locked firmly onto his.

His hands were tangled into her hair, sliding down her sides, resting on her waist. He fumbled for the door handle and they both tumbled out onto the sidewalk. He tried to mumble an apology but she was already on top of him, kicking the door shut with her foot.

The ride had begun.

* * *

A/N: THANKS TO ALL MY REVIEWERS! And anyone who put this story on alert or added it to their favorites! I LOVE IT!!! And to all of you who had so much patience with the ridiculous amount of time it took me to write this. Thanks again to my beta, astrum-faith. She is also wonderfully patient with me, and catches the silly things I leave out.Also let me give a quick plug for this ship. I've seen a couple great Elliox one shots out there- let's keep them going! Anyone who wants to try this ship really should. We all love JDox, but an experiment in something new is always fun and exciting.