Home: Part One

House lay spread out on the floor of his ram shackled bathroom. The heaviness he had felt in his thigh and head seemed to slowly melt away. The vicodin and the whiskey had done the trick. He could feel his heart slowing down and his breath still. He was slipping in to oblivion...

"House?" Thirteen yelled through the apartment door.
She waited to hear the thud of his cane near the door, but she was only met with an overwhelming silence. She had a bad feeling in her stomach. She had a sense that if she didn't get into the apartment she'd regret it. Thirteen bent down and pulled out a key from under a loose floor tile.

She entered the apartment in trepidation. The lights were all out except for a stray candle that lay near the window. She went over and picked it up and used it to guide her way down his hallway. She looked into his bedroom finding only an unmade bed and clothes strewn about the floor. Sighing to herself, she then ventured toward the bathroom. The door was closed. She knocked once. No response. Turning the knob she slowly opened the door. Immediately her eyes fell on an unconscious House lying sprawled on the floor. She saw the empty bottles of vicodin and the half empty whiskey. Rushing over she checked his pulse and breathed a little sigh of relief to find a very faint beat. Quickly she took out her cell phone and called 911. After a few minutes of explaining the situation to the operator, Thirteen brought House's head down to lie on her lap. She gently stroked his hair and silently prayed that he would survive. As she sat she took in her surroundings and finally realized the state of mind he must have been in. The mirror was smashed and the wall had a hole the size of one's fist. She looked down at his hand and noticed the bloody knuckles. What happened? She knew he had been at the crash site and that he helped a woman that was trapped. She didn't know what came of the case since she left work hours before due to her illness taking over her motor skills. She could feel her hands shaking now. They had been shaking increasingly more over the last six hours. She looked down at his face and saw how tired he looked. She knew how it felt to be so tired of fighting life that you just wanted to succumb to death.
"Stay with me. Just hang on." She said softly.

House lay on a soft white hammock in the sun. He opened his eyes and instantly felt peaceful within himself. He had never felt that way. Something was wrong.
"I'm dead." He said to himself as he sat up and took in the beautiful lush garden around him.
"Not yet." A voice said from behind him. He looked back and saw a small girl with familiar blue eyes and a knowing grin leaning against a tree. He noticed her long curly brown hair that seemed to have no known end.
"Do I know you?" He asked, instantly realizing how stupid a question it was. She giggled and stepped toward the hammock.
"You gave me an extra year of life. I was nine. I had terminal cancer."
His eyes widened as the memory flooded his senses. Her name was Andie. She gave him a hug before she left the hospital. She told him to...
"I told you it was a nice day and you should go for a walk." She said finishing his thought.
"So, you can hear my thoughts?"
"Yes...but that's not important. I'm here because you need help." She said sweetly as she grabbed his hand and seemed to effortlessly pull him out of the hammock.
"Am I in heaven? I mean, I'd have to be since you're here." He said as he touched her hair as if to decipher whether she actually did exist.
"This is a place where some souls go to gain perspective and understanding before going home." She said as she took hold of his hand and began to lead him through a lush labyrinth of flowers.
"What's home?"
"You've been asking that question for a long time...maybe this time you'll find an answer." She replied before opening a hidden door located underneath the thick wall of pink roses.

"How is he?" Wilson asked Taub as he met him at the hospital entrance.
"In a coma..."
Wilson took a deep breath and leaned against the nearest wall.

"Dr. Cuddy, speaking." Cuddy answered her cell phone as she parked her car in her driveway.
"Lisa, Greg is in the hospital..." Wilson said in a broken voice.
"James, what happened? When I left he was...fine." She said knowing he was anything but fine after she rejected him.
"He swallowed two bottles of vicodin...Thirteen found him in time...he's in a coma."
Cuddy's breathing felt like it had stopped for a moment. She made no sound or reply.
"Lisa, are you still there?"
"Yes...I'll be there right away." She said through tears before hanging up.