A change of direction
A low sound from far away forced its way into his mind. He couldn't place the sound at first, but then he recognized it as his alarm clock. He slowly opened his eyes and let out a loud moan before he threw his hand at the clock to make it stop.
Dr. Gregory House sat up in his bed and rubbed his right leg trying to release the pain. Suddenly the phone rang and another moan was heard from the man on the bed. House grabbed the Vicodin from his nightstand, swallowed a couple of pills and stood up. He began to make his way to the kitchen and turned a blind eye when he walked past the ringing telephone. His first stop was the fridge, where he started to grab the things he wanted to eat. The phone stopped ringing and the voicemail started.
"The number you are trying to reach is out of order. Stop calling it and annoy someone else." House heard his voice and was a bit proud of how it may scare people away. Now he just hoped that there wasn't anyone annoying on the message that was to come.
"House, I know you're there. You're not off clinic hours because you fired your team; you don't need a team to work in the clinic. I have arranged some interviews with new applicants, so I expect you to be here. Just…" House kept on with his newly made sandwiches; peanut butter and jelly on a slice of bread. "Just get your ass over here." House raised an eyebrow at Cuddy's last words. It was harsh, even for her.
"End of message." He let out a sigh of relief, and ate his breakfast. After he had lost all three of his employers, he thought he could've taken it easy for a while, sleep in and maybe even avoid Cuddy. So far, he hadn't met a single applicant who was suited for the job. Okay, there was that one girl who was easy going on the eyes, but it wasn't good enough. He needed a good team, a brand new one, because he was going to prove to everyone that he was capable of change.
"Lisa." A big man walked up to the woman who stood at the nurses' station. He looked anxious and scared and his clothes were all wet because of the rain outside. He had a towel which he used to soak up the mixture of sweat and water in his face. He looked at the woman, who he'd known for quite a while, and waited for her to notice him. Cuddy turned to face the man behind her and wondered what had made him to call her first name. When she saw him, she recognized him as her sister's husband.
"Oh, hi Roger. What brings you here?"
"I need your help. George's sick. I don't know what's wrong."
"Where is he?" Cuddy went from being surprised to being scared when she heard her nephew's name.
"In my car, I drove here as fast as I could. It started now, this morning." He went for the door, and Cuddy followed him out in the rain. The car was close, so they didn't get too wet. Through the window she could see a small boy, with brown hair and innocent eyes, looking up at them. She noticed that he was shaking, and that he had several layers of blankets swept around him, as though he shook because of the cold. Cuddy thought otherwise, because there was something that didn't seem right. She could see it in his eyes. Just as she yelled for a nurse to fetch a wheelchair, and the father had opened the car door, the late doctor, whom she had called all morning appeared next to them.
"What's up?" House said curiously. Not that he really cared, but he loved to annoy back at the people who annoyed him. Cuddy gave him a stare and watched as the father put his son in the wheelchair. They all went to the hospital entrance, even House, though he was a bit slower and got left behind. Cuddy didn't have time for him, and especially not for his comments.
House entered the hospital with a curious look on the boy in the wheelchair that disappeared around the corner together with the father and House's boss. The curiosity went away when he made his way to the elevator. Just as the doors was about to close with him inside, he thought he saw his former employee walk past him. Why would Allison Cameron be there? He decided that it was the Vicodin that gave him hallucinations and went to the glass door with the name Dr. Gregory House on it.
House opened the door to his office. It was dark inside; the cleaner had obviously forgotten about the blinds again. He sighed at this and walked up to the windows to let the light in and then put his cane on his glass desk and sat down in his chair. He picked up his iPod from his pocket, put the earphones in his ears and pressed the play button. His eyes closed to the sound of Pink Floyd. While he sat there with high music pounding in his ears, he did not notice that the door opened and that two people came in to the office before it closed. Dr. Wilson saw how his colleague and friend had put his legs on the table and was rocking in his chair to the music. The other person just stared, and waited for the doctors' next move. Wilson walked up to House and pressed stop on the mp3 on the table, which made House's eyes open with the speed of light.
"What's this?" House looked from Wilson to the girl, who hadn't dared to move since the eyes of Dr. House had flown open. House leaned forward. "Can't I have some alone time before you begin to bring in these idiots." He hadn't whispered, like a normal person would, so the girl by the door looked scared. Wilson shook his head at those words and reached out his arm in the direction of the girl.
"This is Allison Garrett. She's here for the job, so…" He leered at House. "Let the interview begin." He showed the girl to a chair. She was a small girl, not as tall as Cameron and she had blonde hair and blue eyes. She didn't look anything like the earlier applicants, and though she had the same name as Cameron, she looked nothing like her either. Maybe she was good. Wilson sat down in a chair next to Allison; just as a precaution.
"Can I first just say what an honour it is to finally meet you in person, Dr. House?" House gave out a loud sigh.
"Not a groupie, again, why won't you people learn?" Allison went silent at once. Wilson put a hand over his face and sighed at the, not so rare, behaviour from his friend. House raised his eyebrows and looked at Allison, who looked terrified and was probably experiencing the worst interview of her life. "Do you prefer Rolling Stones or Beatles?" Silence fell over them again while House just stared at the poor girl from across of him.
"You're asking me?" House sighed and rolled his eyes as if it was obvious that the question was for her. Wilson just shook his head at House's sarcasm. "Uhm…" She was hesitating and probably wondering if there was a right answer to the question. "I don't really… Aren't we here to talk about the job?" House was about to say something, but then he saw her again. Cameron walked past his office. Curious to find out why she was there, he rose up, grabbed his cane and walked out of the room. Wilson and the applicant looked confused.
"Stay here." Wilson gave the poor girl a smile, and ran after House.
"Dr. Cameron." A familiar voice called behind her while she entered the elevator. She knew he would be too curious to leave her be. She turned around and saw House walk up to her and on to the elevator with her. "What gives us the pleasure of your presence?" The doors closed and the elevator started to move. Cameron looked at her previous boss.
"I came to pick up some things." House's piercing eyes stared in to hers, and she stared back. He tried to read her in some way, and she just longed to know how he was getting along without her, Chase and Foreman. The staring game continued until the doors of the elevator opened again and Cameron walked out from it. She turned to face him and now she had a smile on her face. "You haven't changed." House put out his cane to stop the doors from closing.
"But you have." Cameron nodded slowly and kept on smiling. She noticed that House was trying hard to find out more, so she turned away from him and started walking towards the hospital exit.
"Bye House." House put down his cane and a very small and crooked smile made its way to his face. The doors closed, and when they opened on the next floor, Cuddy was there waiting for him. The expression on her face showed a blend of panic and fear. She was out of breath because she had obviously run there, and you could see traces of tears on her cheeks. The first thing he noticed though was that her clothes were soaked in blood, and one thing was for sure, something bad had happened.
"Please… I need your help."