Hey there again, everyone! I was looking at my stories, and I realized that I had not done my own version of the great episode, No Reason. So I started on this little story. Enjoy, and please remember to review, ducklings!
Disclaimer: They ain't mine. But if they were, that kiss Cameron gave House would NOT have ended there... (grins evilly)
Shout-outs go to Psycho Stryder, for stalking me and demanding that I update Hide And Seek. Hope this'll work until I get that next chapter done and posted!
"Where are you going?" House asked as Foreman pulled his jacket on.
"You're an ass," Foreman stated.
"I know. Where are you going?" House asked again.
"This is either a toxin, an infection, or an allergic reaction. I assume you gave him Epi, so that rules out allergies. Put him on antibiotics in case it's an infection. And if it's a toxin, we'll keep him here overnight, let the swelling go down, and send him home. I'm going to the movies." As Foreman turned to walk out of the meeting room, the door open, and a balding man stepped inside.
"Which one of you is House?" the man demanded, his eyes skittering around the room.
"The skinny brunette," House answered casually, turning his back on the man to return to the whiteboard.
"No, that's Dr. Cameron," the man insisted, and House turned his head and looked at the man inquisitively.
"I'm skinny. How do you know her name?" he questioned.
Cameron was watching the interaction between the two men, and something felt wrong about the whole situation. She took a step toward House, then another.
"I was a patient of yours," the man said as he reached into the pocket of his jacket. Cameron saw the glint of cold metal, and it was as though time had been slowed to a near halt as the man pulled the gun out and aimed it at House.
"Gun!" she heard herself scream as she put herself between House and the bullet, and she heard shouts of protests as the bullet burned through her vulnerable flesh.
The man wielding the gun looked at her on shock, and she looked down at the blood that was spurting from her stomach. She remained on her feet despite her lightheadedness. The man's expression changed, and he raised the gun and pulled the trigger again, despite the angry shouts of her colleagues.
"Cameron!" The terrified voice of her boss shouting her name jolted her, and she turned her head to looked at him just before she crumbled to the ground.
He screamed her name, and she looked at him before her eyes rolled up into her head and she started to fall to the ground. He wasn't fast enough to catch her, but Foreman was, and House kneeled down beside them and immediately began applying pressure to the wounds.
By then, security had ran into the room and was shoving handcuffs onto the man, and House looked up at Chase and began shouting orders at him. Once he was gone, House returned his attention to the wounded duckling. As he applied pressure to the wounds, she coughed and stirred in Foreman's arms.
"Relax," House said gruffly when she tried to sit up. "You were shot twice. Don't move around."
Chase returned a few minutes later with several nurses and a stretcher, and as Foreman laid Cameron on it, House began barking at the nurses. "Two GSW's, one to the abdomen, one to the chest."
Cameron tried to make sense of what House was saying, but the voices around her were becoming blurred and distorted, and she was losing her concentration. She felt Foreman place her on the stretcher, and she coughed and struggled to breathe. "House," she gasped, and she saw him appear through her blurred vision.
House heard her call his name, and he moved to stand beside her stretcher. "I'm right here, Cameron," he said, his voice less gruff than usual.
A thin line of blood appeared from the corner of her mouth, and he shuddered at the scarlet color. Her hand raised up from the stretcher and reached out to him, and he ignored the questioning eyes as he wrapped his long fingers around her too cold hand.
Her eyes slid shut again, and as House watched the nurses wheel the gurney away, he felt an emotion that was terribly foreign and painful. Worry. He was worried about her.
Suddenly he stumbled backwards, his back hitting the cold cement wall. He was worried about Allison Cameron, the woman he swore that he would never fall in love with.
A cold lump of fear formed in the pit of his gut as he realized that he wasn't just worried about her. He was terrified for her. Greg House was never terrified about anything, let alone another human being. But as he watched them wheel Cameron's gurney away, he felt a pain that he thought he could no longer feel.
After a few moments, he ignored the concerned comments of the male ducklings and Wilson, and he limped in the direction of where they had been taking his only female duckling. He finally found the room that they had taken her to, and he screamed at the large nurse who blocked the entrance to the examination room.
"Get out of my way!"
The nurse crossed her arms over her chest and said, "Dr. House, you know the rules, even though you refuse to follow them. You know that you can't be in there."
He was about to scream again, but a hand on his shoulder cut him off mid-breath, and he spun around to face the owner of the hand.
"House, you need to back off and let them do their work," Wilson said quietly, and House glared at him. But Wilson wasn't fazed. He only tightened his grip on House's shoulder as he said, "Come on, House. There's nothing we can do right now. Let them work."
House maintained his stance for a few more seconds. Then his shoulders slumped, and he reluctantly followed Wilson to the nearest waiting room, where he collapsed onto one of the couches and buried his face in his hands. The newest emotion that had now overwhelmed him was more confusing and disillusioning than the last.
Helplessness.
Gregory House had never known helplessness, and he hated the bitter, metallic taste that it created in his mouth.
Soon they weren't alone as, one by one, Foreman, Chase, then Cuddy joined them to wait in their silent reverie. But House didn't acknowledge their presences and quiet conversation as he continued to wait impatiently for word on his injured Cameron.
TBC...
A/N: Ooh... I'm so evil. Cliffhanger. (ducks flaming sporks and left shoes thrown by readers and PsychoStryder) Review, my ducklings! Review!