DISCLAIMER: Scrubs and its characters are the property of Touchstone Television and NBC. No infringement intended.
ARCHIVING: Only with the permission of the author.
Her Smile
By Angie
Jordan's day had started off fairly innocuously. She'd woken up, kicked Perry 'by accident', fed Jack and handed him to the nanny just in time for him to throw up all over her and then headed out to the hospital.
She was keeping herself amused by snarling at unsuspecting delivery people from behind the reception desk when it happened. Something truly horrifying.
She glanced to the side and caught sight of Elliot approaching. Elliot noticed her at the same moment. And Elliot smiled at her. That wasn't the awful thing. Elliot smiled at everybody; it was nothing out of the ordinary. But the positively sickening thing that happened next was previously unheard of.
Jordan smiled back.
A real smile. A genuine smile that started as an uncontrollable tugging at the sides of her mouth and then travelled all the way up to her eyes, crinkling the corners so badly that she'd have to schedule a few extra shots of botox to correct the damage done.
It all spiralled out of control from there. Upon seeing this strange, but not unwelcome, expression on Jordan's face, Elliot's own smile grew wider. She passed by with a little wave and a high-pitched sound, indicating excitement.
It was only when she was gone that Jordan realised she was still wearing the God-awful smile. She snapped her face back to its usual mixture of disdain and boredom before anyone else in the hospital noticed. But her insides were churning. What the hell did this mean?
Yes, she'd smiled at Elliot before. But more in a pitying, superior 'look at the poor little blonde' type way than a soapy 'you're the one' kinda way. And, yeah, OK, she was sleeping with Elliot. But if she went around smiling at everybody she'd ever slept with, she'd have crows feet like the Grand Canyon for chrissakes.
Admittedly, the thing with Elliot had lasted a little longer than her normal 'relationships'. Which wasn't saying much. It had been surprising when it first happened. The little twerp had demonstrated that she had more balls than every man in the hospital by standing up to Jordan. It led to sexual tension. Jordan saw no point in sexual tension when there could be sex instead. Which is how they ended up having a slightly uncomfortable, but highly satisfying, encounter in the Janitor's closet.
And that's how it was. They had sex in unusual places, at unexpected times. Occasionally they exchanged a few words here and there. But there was no smiling. The smiling had come out of left-field and Jordan was still reeling from it.
Did it mean…it couldn't be that…did she actually like Elliot?
No. That couldn't be it. Sure, she was a sweet kid and all. Very eager to please. And no slouch in the sex department. But Jordan didn't do affection. The whole thing was strictly for jealousy arousing purposes. Then how come she hadn't flaunted this one in Perry's face? She didn't consider that for too long, finding it far too disturbing.
Elliot's reaction to the smile was also a cause for concern. Obviously she had taken it as a sign of an impending declaration of love and was planning garish table centre-pieces and writing vows in her head for some touch-feely ceremony involving hand-fasting and that strange third sex who refer to themselves as 'womyn'.
Jordan snorted out loud. If she was gonna have her hands tied, there had sure as hell better be a headboard and a blindfold involved.
However, even as she tried to be disgusted and dismissive of the mere thought of a public attachment to the blonde pile of neuroses, she couldn't deny that there was a part of her that felt all sort of warm and squishy because of it. And she didn't like it.
Obviously she had to reassert what this 'relationship' was all about. She swept down the corridor in the direction that Elliot had taken. She tracked her down to a patient's room. Jordan took a deep breath and stuck her head in the door.
"Dr Reid, I need to see you urgently."
She ducked back out and listened to Elliot babble medicalese for a few seconds before making her excuses. As she exited the room, Jordan grabbed her by the front of her scrubs. She pulled her close so that they were practically nose to nose.
"Meet me in the boiler room in five minutes. Your pants better be round your ankles and you'll need something to bite down on."
She released her hold and turned to walk away but Elliot's hand on her arm halted her. She steeled herself before turning back around. Elliot was positively beaming.
"I can't believe you remembered! I mean, when you smiled at me earlier I kinda thought you did but then I thought I was probably hoping for a little too much cuz let's face it you don't seem like the kinda girl that writes that sort of stuff in her journal and draws little hearts around it but I…"
Jordan was baffled. And annoyed.
"Stick, rephrase that in five words or less or I'm gone."
Elliot blinked.
"It's our six-month anniversary."
Jordan almost choked.
"Anni-what now?"
"It's six months since we first made love."
Jordan physically recoiled, her hand coming up to her neck. She glanced around before moving back in and whispering, loudly.
"Listen, twinkie, we don't 'make love'. We have never 'made love'. So it is completely impossible for this day to be any sort of anniversary of any kind of lovemaking."
Elliot rolled her eyes.
"Made love. Had sex. Potay-to, potah-to."
Jordan was still recovering from the description of their coupling in such wussy terms when the other part of the sentence hit her.
"Six months?!?"
Elliot sighed.
"I take it that you didn't remember."
"Six months?!?"
Elliot reached out and put a hand on Jordan's shoulder.
"OK, when you're done freaking out about this, I'll be in the boiler room with my pants around my ankles. I don't have anything to bite down on though…you'll just have to give me your panties to stuff in my mouth."
And with that she turned and walked away. And as Jordan watched her go, she weighed up her choices. She could freak out about commitment and feelings. Or she could go and have great sex. Like she'd been having for the past six months, apparently. It didn't seem that long. And if she delved deep enough, she had to admit that she'd enjoyed it.
There really wasn't much of a decision to be made.
She headed to the boiler room. Only when she arrived at the door did she realise that she was smiling. Again.
Damn.
The End