AN: Hello all, this is my very first House M.D. fic so I do hope you'll all be kind to me. Ya know, I always thought my first fic would be a Chase angst one, who would've thought it'd be a Wilson one? But anyway there're no pairings in this fic, or none that I know of at this moment, and that includes no slash, this is pure friendship.
This is a oneshot people, maybe one day I'll write a full length House fic about Wilson or Chase angst, heheh, but not today.
Disclaimer: Hehehehehe…. It's funny that you think I own the show or any of its characters. But go ahead, try and sue me, you'll get… well I own a lotta boots…
Warnings: A little OOC, mostly on House's part. Uh, angst (or it's angsty), obviously. I HAD NO BETA READER FOR THIS! I'll add more stuff if I think of it later. OH! By the way, I'm no Doctor so sorry for any of the wrong information.
I'll Be There The Whole Time
James Wilson was laying in his hospital bed staring up at the ceiling, he had a bandage wrapped around his head, one on his arm and another on his torso along with multiple cuts and bruises. There was an oxygen mask on his face and he could feel a split lip along with possibly one of his back teeth knocked out. Unfortunately for him, he was involved in a car accident, it wasn't his fault by far, but he was driving to the hospital in the morning as always and some drunken kid decided to run the red light going over ninety miles per hour. Hit his car on the drivers side, lucky for him it was not directly on the drivers seat or he may not be alive today, but it did total his car and cause him unbearable pain.
He was still living with House at the time, but James decided he was going to get in a little early today, take care of some paperwork that was well overdue. But he never got the chance, as he laid in the warm white sheets he wondered why anyone would be driving that drunk that late in the morning, normally these things happened very early. It was about seven thirty when he was hit, or was it seven? He didn't know anymore. Maybe it was earlier, or was that the time that he… hm, concussion. Defiantly.
James lifted his hand and rubbed his eyes holding his fingers on the bridge of his nose for a moment, he didn't remember the accident much, one of the nurses explained everything to him. He looked up at the clock, it was now ten o'clock, House should be in work by now, along with his little team. He took a deep breath in the mask and a series of coughs shot through his body. He had been coughing almost the whole time since he had woken up about a half hour ago. He had been having these dry coughs; he also noticed he was breathing rather rapidly. At some point in the cough he lifted the mask and placed a hand over his mouth, as he took his hand away he looked at it and noticed the blood.
Blood. That couldn't be good. He thought for a moment, shortness of breath, pain in the chest (although that could just be from the broken ribs which he knew he had), coughing up blood, he may have been oncologist but he knew the symptoms of a punctured lung, or a collapsed one. Oh God… a collapsed lung… what if he had a collapsed lung. That would require surgery, or either of them would require surgery.
His breathing became faster as he began panicking on what could be wrong with him. But of course this only made the pain in his chest worse along with the pain all over the rest of his body. But at that moment the door of his hospital room opened up and when James cracked open his eye he saw House hobble in with his cane.
Without saying a word he sat down and stared at him for quite a while. Getting a bit uncomfortable in this odd silence that wasn't like House at all, James raised his right hand, the one that wasn't currently in a thick bandage and lifted the mask slightly so he could speak. "Are you just going to stare at me…?" He asked and was shocked at his own voice; it was very weak, hoarse, and breathy. He momentarily wondered if House even heard him.
House remained silent and looked at him with a face that you would rarely, or scratch that, never see on House. He actually looked worried, imagine that, House was genially concerned. "How are you feeling?" He asked quietly.
James was about to respond but another cough wracked through his body. "Oh yeah," he said as he caught his breath again. "I'm just fine."
"Oh well that bit's obvious." House said sarcastically as he leaned back in the chair and examined his friend. He looked terrible, it looked like someone had tried out their new baseball bat on him. The left side of his face was bruised horribly and a bandage was wrapped around his head with blood seeping through, apparently his head had somehow been thrown and it hit the window. His left arm was in a terrible state, it was crushed against the door, and his chest, even though House couldn't see it under the gown, he was told it had bruises all over it along with some broken ribs.
"I got your test results." House began getting chipper and a bit annoying mood back.
"Let me guess…" James began and closed his eyes. "Collapsed lung?"
"Wow! You must be psychic!" He exclaimed but didn't miss the pained look on James's face at the news he did in fact have a collapsed lung. "Good news is, it's not that bad. But your arm..."
"What's wrong with my arm?" He asked and sat up a bit.
House pushed on his good shoulder to lay him back down, "Your arm was broken in quite a few spots. Lucky for you, you won't need any metal shoved in there. But you will need a few surgeries. You'll get full use of it back."
He stared at the ceiling and nodded. "Yeah… surgeries… my arm… and my lung… Okay, I can handle that."
"The only reason you can handle that is because you're pumped with to many pain killers to have no choice but to handle it." House mumbled as he popped a few Vicodin in his mouth. "But you will have to learn to write with your right hand for a while, that'll be fun, huh?"
"Yeah…" James said and let his head fall to the side.
"Nurse is gonna come in and prep you in a bit… What's wrong?" House asked after a pause as he banged his cane against the edge of the bed, the vibrations running through the metal of the bed and reaching James's ears with an annoying tune.
James just closed his eyes and lifted the mask back on his face, breathing was getting steadily harder for him to do. But he figured it would be some time before it would become a real serious problem. He could feel House's eyes grinding into him, but he refused to look his friend in the eye.
"Oh my God." House said as he studied him. "You're scared of the surgery."
He shook his head and said "I'm not scared," but he wasn't sure House had heard him, he failed to take the mask off.
Apparently he did. "Yeah! You're terrified a little surgery! You know the surgeons, you have drinks with those guys!"
James lifted the mask and turned his head over to House, his furrowed his brow the best he could do past the bandage and the bruises. "I do not go out for drinks with the surgeons."
"But you don't deny being scared."
"House… please… I'm not in the mood for this." He sighed as he closed his eyes, his vision wasn't entirely up to par, he assumed that was because of the concussion.
"So you admit, you are scared of a surgery."
Grunting James pulled the mask off his face and glared at House. "Of course I'm scared!" He cried with a dry, rough throat, which made it hurt more and made his chest heave in pain. "Jesus, House, yeah fine, I'm scared of surgeries. They terrify me. Happy?"
There was a long pause as James watched House and House watched him. "No," the older of the two finally answered. "Why?"
"Why what?" He said while wincing as the pain started to flood back into his system, his drugs were wearing off.
"Why is the sky blue? Dumbass, why are you scared of the surgery."
He shook his head and took a deep breath. "I dunno, just am." At that moment more coughs shot through him, but he felt something, cracking his eyes open while coughing he saw that House had whipped out a tissue and had it over his mouth so it could catch the blood that was sure to fly out of his mouth.
When the coughing ceased he rested his head against the pillow and watched as House balled up the bloodied tissue and tossed it in the trash. "I'm not a baby." James spoke.
"Really?" House asked with obvious sarcasm. "I never would have guessed."
"I mean… You don't have to treat me like one."
House watched him some more, this was becoming a habit it seemed. Stare at Wilson until he becomes horribly uncomfortable, yeah that was a healthy hobby. "You're really scared aren't you?"
"Yeah." He breathed with pain etched in his face. "Oh God…"
"What hurts?" He asked as he moved closer to the bed so he could get a better look at him.
"Everything."
"That's specific."
"Okay uh… my chest, real bad. Um, my head, my arm, urg… oh…" James reached up and rubbed his head. "Headache… hurts… bad…"
"Looks like your meds are wearing off." House mumbled as he checked on the various tubes running into his system.
"House…" James said through clenched teeth. "Greg, do something."
"Hm..." House walked around the bed as James withered in his bed. "Now I can't really give you any more pain killers, the nurse is supposed to come in and give you more at the right time. But as it seems she is either a brain dead moron or she enjoys seeing you suffer, either way she's not here."
"Greg! Please…"
"Alright, alright, jeez, cry baby."
James watched out of the corner of his eye as House walked over and inserted some pain killers into the tubes that would be entering his system. In minutes he felt the pain cease and he let out a long breath. "Okay… thank you."
"I didn't do it for you. I did it for me, you were getting annoying." He replied as he sat back down in his chair. "So how come?"
"How come?" James asked quietly, forgetting of their previous conversation.
"How come you're a big chicken when it comes to surgery?"
"House, I told you. I don't know. A phobia I guess…"
"So… you decide to work in a hospital? Yeah, that'll take you away from surgery for a long time."
James rolled his eyes and grunted. "I don't mind being around them… just performed on me… I mean… what if something goes wrong?" He asked and turned his head to look at House.
When James's eyes met House's that was when he really saw the pain and fear his younger friend was feeling. Normally House wasn't one to show too many emotions, other then annoyance, anger, frustration, you know, the House ones. But Wilson had been his friend for… how many years now? Well when Wilson entered High School was really when they became friends. House was already in college. He knew the boy down the road has aspirations to become a doctor, and he was studying to become one so he decided to help him out a bit.
The two had been good friends ever since, despite the age difference, the older they got the less it mattered. But now House watched on as his oldest, best, and only real friend was suffering in front of him. When he got the news James had been in an accident he tried not to show it, he tried not to show the worry and fear he was feeling. But now, when he was only in front of Wilson, it didn't matter. "Nothing's going to go wrong." House assured him.
"How do you know that?" He asked in a scared voice that sounded like a child.
"Because I do, trust me, Jimmy."
James bit his bottom lip and closed his eyes, he felt the forgotten oxygen mask gently placed back on his face. House was noticing how his breathing was getting slightly ragged. He also felt his left hand, or his fingers rather, get squeezed slightly. James tried his best to squeeze back, but the pain in that arm and his lack of strength really prevented him to apply any pressure.
"I trust you." James said through the mask not knowing if House heard him or not, but it didn't matter anymore if he did or if he didn't.
There was a soft knock at the door, when James opened his eyes he saw the young nurse walk in timidly, not wanting to interrupt the two. "Um… Dr. Wilson?" She asked stepping in further. "I'm here to prep you for your surgery."
James nodded his head and looked up at House one last time as he stood up grabbing his cane. "I'll watch and make sure they don't leave a scalpel in you."
"Whole time?" James asked.
"Whole time."